How far we’ve come

We were very proud on Sunday to be featured in this article in the Guardian about democratising the access to COVID-19 testing. Today we celebrate our 2 month anniversary, and we want to voice some appreciation for our wonderful network of volunteers and partners who have enabled us to come this far. Our resilience in the face of COVID-19 has been driven by the strength of our community, and our ability to unite around a common goal. Testing For All is a testament to this, the product of months of cooperation amongst individuals. 

Most of us had never worked with each other before we started on this journey, yet we were all brought together by a common belief that testing is the only way out of this crisis and considered that, as such, it should be made accessible and affordable to all those who need it.  Our team and partners have all contributed in various ways to make this a reality, creating the first UK not-for-profit with the aim of expanding the government’s testing capacity directly to consumers and employers 

Over the past two months, our network has enabled a successful trial amongst GPs and healthcare workers, where we could give them access to high quality CE certified antibody tests to find out whether or not they had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Community and Cooperation

Three key pillars of cooperation supported the successful delivery of this trial: 

• Technology – Our product team has been instrumental in helping us deliver on our goal to make testing accessible to all. Together, they have been willing to give up their time in the service of making this vision come to life. They have worked at pace to create the technology platform supporting the highly optimised distribution and logistics system that underpins Testing For All. Furthermore, they have channeled their experiences working with leading consumer brands and tech startups to deliver a high quality patient experience, from registration to results delivery. A big thank you for the generosity of Jessica Lodge (web), Jack Bolles (cto), Darren Hobbs (full-stack), Darren West (product lead), Emir Husejnovic (www), and Luka Matovic (backend) who all gave at least part of the time pro-bono to this cause – and to Marc from Code4Covid for finding our first volunteers and recruits.

• Innovation and scientific knowledge – We’ve benefited from the trust and support of leading laboratories and medical suppliers, allowing us to build a portfolio of best-in class tests. With the COVID-19 testing field evolving so rapidly, we have been able to rely on healthcare professionals and their willingness to contribute to our vision by providing scientific and clinical advice. Two months in, Dr Renée Hoederkemp, Dr Caroline Meehan and Dr Yvette Coldicott have all provided their medical expertise and knowledge of the digital health world to help us disrupt the current thinking about provision of COVID-19 tests to the UK. A big thank you to them, and our partners at Eurofins County Pathology, The Doctors Laboratory, London Medical Laboratory, VWR and Alpha Laboratories. 

• Marketing, PR & Go To Market – As we worked to refine our objectives and go to market strategy, we have been able to rely on the support of Contra, a marketing agency based in London. Partnering with Testing For All, they saw an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to solving the COVID-19 crisis, and have been instrumental in helping us build our public image, in turn expanding our reach within the community. We were able to rely on the work of Joshua Blackburn, Chris Wigan and Joe Banks to help bring this to life, through their work in branding and PR respectively. A big thank you to Roberto & Matt at Contra!

Looking forward

The existence of Testing For All is a testament to the power of community in times of crisis. We are very excited for the weeks and months to come, as we continue on our journey of  bringing affordable and accessible testing to the greatest numbers. If you would like to help us on our mission, check out our open positions, or contact us directly.