Private GP turns to creative agency to solve surge in demand for travellers’ covid tests

A WILTSHIRE creative agency has helped a private GP firm cope with a surge in demand for PCR tests sparked by the government’s latest rule change for travellers.

The bespoke online system built by Wiltshire creative agency Milk & Tweed had already clocked up 15,000 Covid tests, now it is helping it deal with hundreds of inquiries a week prompted by the new rule requiring a day two PCR test instead of a lateral flow test.

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The company, Dorset Private GP, turned to the agency earlier this year after it realised its existing website wouldn’t be able to cope with the number of people trying to book tests so they could fly away on holiday or business when airports opened up again.

Clinic manager Melissa Middleton said the company, which uses a drive-in site near Bournemouth Airport to collect swabs, which are then couriered to a laboratory in Manchester for testing, had to wait for result documents to come back, then manually upload them to folders on its system and attach them to emails before sending them out.

“That was very time-consuming when we had 100 results to upload in one go,” she said. “We needed a more automated solution that was also reliable and secure.”

The Chippenham -based agency’s designers spent a month developing the site so that it could book tests and then automatically generate result documents and accompanying letters once the results were in. Each letter also has a unique QR code with an encrypted link to the test, as required by airlines.

“We needed something that was more creative and efficient so we laid out to Milk & Tweed what we ideally wanted and what they came up with was fantastic,” said Mrs Middleton. “We had to send out 56 tests one morning, which took less than an hour – before it would have taken us four times as long.”

As well as test bookings, the site has the latest guidelines and requirements for travellers. More than 40,000 people have accessed the information since the site went live in September 2020.

She said the latest rule change had heralded a rapid increase in test bookings. “As soon as the rules were announced we started getting calls because they needed to get a reference number on their passenger locator form and they were worried they wouldn’t be able to get the right test,” she said. “The bookings are still crazy and every minute another test is booked.

“We’ve been very fortunate that Milk & Tweed have always been there to make the changes to the website as soon as we need them. We found out about the latest rule change at the same time as everyone else.”

Jon Ladd, Milk & Tweed head of operations and support, said the project has notched up more than 800 hours of work, including the original design and then adding extra functions such a corporate booking section and automated reporting to Public Health England.

“It’s ever-evolving, we started off just doing a couple of tests but now the site is booking day two and day eight PCR tests, lateral flow, fast-track PCR, Fit To Fly tests and rapid anti-gen tests,” he said.

“The site has also had to be made extra-secure because it contains patient data and passport numbers. It has been a really enjoyable project to work on and we believe the system is so efficient it could be used in other medical settings, for things like flu jabs and blood tests. We have had some enquiries.”

Mrs Middleton said having the website has been a vital tool in boosting business and being able to cope with demand. “The site is so much better and easier to understand. It looks far more professional and people have told us how easy it is to navigate it,” she said.

“Dealing with Milk & Tweed has been amazing. They were really patient and enthusiastic and always listened to what we needed. I couldn’t have asked for better people to work with.”

Find out more about the agency at milkandtweed.com and about Dorset Private GP at dorsetprivategp.co.uk.