The City of York Council have successfully launched an online booking system to support their symptom-free COVID testing strategy and meet their authority’s wider Coronavirus objectives.
Working with booking specialists Stopford, the tailored solution was developed and implemented for bookings in just under three days, providing York-based key workers and students with easy access to rapid testing over the demanding Christmas period.
Following the latest lockdown imposed in January, online booking will also aim to play a key role in the future of York’s testing plan by helping to identify asymptomatic residents and reducing the risk of further transmission amongst citizens.
Since the system’s 11th of December launch date, York Council have accepted over 16,000 bookings at their St John University and University of York testing centres.
The booking system takes the visitors details and allows the user to select their preferred test location and appointment time, minimising the admin required by on-site staff in comparison to walk-in only test centres. Residents who take a rapid test will receive their test results via email or text based on the contact method they provided during booking.
The authority has also introduced a contact centre option to standardise the acceptance of telephone bookings and efficiently manage incoming booking demand.
Councillor Carol Runciman, City of York Council Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said:
“1 in 3 people with coronavirus won’t exhibit symptoms, but they are still able to transfer the virus to those they come into contact with. This is one of the reasons that symptom-free testing is absolutely essential in the way we stop the spread of the virus.
Making sure our residents were able to book a testing slot quickly and easily was an essential part of our symptom-free testing programme. We are grateful to Stopford for their work in building this booking system, it is a good example of City of York Council working with partners to help fight Coronavirus in the city.”
Stopford’s Sales and Marketing Manager, Scott Graham, had this to say about collaborating with York on COVID Test Booking:
“Having worked with the registration team at York for a number of years and fostering a great relationship with their IT services, we were honoured to be selected to create a bespoke solution for their COVID testing centres.
With times being as difficult as they are and the national strategy centring around our ability to make testing widely available, especially as 1 in 3 are asymptomatic, we jumped at the opportunity to assist our partners at the City of York to develop their expected solution quickly and help residents enjoy the holidays safely.”
About Stopford:
Stopford Information Systems Ltd is an online booking and diary management company based in Chester. Established in 1999, Stopford have gone on to provide bespoke solutions for hundreds of local government organisations and have delivered over a million bookings for registration services, local attractions, and facilities.
Find out more about Stopford by visiting our About page.