WOKINGHAM MP Sir John Redwood has called for examples of bad service from the public sector after sharing his problems using an NHS app that proves his covid vaccination status.
In a tweet, he aired his frustration that his vaccination card, provided when he received his two jabs, had the necessary detail on negating the need for a code from the app.
“Today I ask the NHS why do they want us to download a scan code to prove vaccination when we all have an excellent card with all the details on? Why can’t we check what the code says? Why does the promised one month validity become only two days on some computer print outs?” he asked.
“I went to two events recently. No one scanned the NHS vaccination details I had printed out. Both had problems with their digital ticket scanners which meant slower progress than relying on normal tickets,” he added.
Writing on his blog, the MP expanded his views.
“Parts of the public sector though are making technology into a misery machine to spy on us , infuriate us and thwart us,” he wrote.
“I could not read and check the computer record because it was encrypted in a scan code.I have no idea what it says and so do not know if it is accurate,”
Sir John also had problems with the two-step authentication process used as a security measure, when logging in, saying it failed on the first two attempts. But when he did get in, he was dismayed to find that the code was only valid for two days rather than a month.
“As I was preparing diary items a week in advance it meant I had to go through the palaver the night before the event again! I dread to think how much we taxpayers had to pay for such a poor and pointless service,” commented.
And he also had problems when visiting a west London-based council and needed to park his car only to find that on-street parking was not an easy option. One parking bay he found had a ticket machine that was out of action, so he didn’t park there in case he was towed away.
When he did get a space, he had to use an online operator similar to the Ringo system that Wokingham Borough Council uses in its car parks. For this, you register your vehicle’s number plate and give the location number printed on the information sign, and the number of hours you wish to pay for before inputting credit card details.
There is both the option to pay by phone or by an app on a mobile phone.
Sir John did not find the process straightforward.
He wrote: “I rang the number. I was told I had to download an app. I did so. That told me I had to register. I did so answering a range of questions about me and the phone. Then it asked me details about the parking. I supplied those. Then it told me I had not supplied details of the car so I had to go back to registration to do that.”
He felt that the information he was given was ambiguous over hours and pricing, leaving him to guess a time. After he had paid, he realised parking was free for the evening.
“I ended up paying £1 for the 10 minutes and had peace of mind that I had complied. All this had to done on a tiny phone screen which was difficult to read in sunlight. It was so much easier when you simply put coins into a ticket machine.”
He ended his blog post inviting readers to send in examples of bad service from the public sector.
