NHS QR Code

[Chris Hogg]

I had a letter through the post the other day from the NHS, urging me to get my flu vaccination (which I'd had done some six weeks ago - they could have checked and saved the effort). Also enclosed was another letter with a QR code

that if I used the camera app on my smartphone and held the camera over the QR code, it would open a secure patient communications hub and allow me to receive messages digitally and save paper, electricity, the world etc.

I don't have a smartphone, but my laptop does have a built-in camera, which I duly activated and held the QR code in front of it. Nothing happened - zilch - nada - bugger all!

What should I do to get this thing to work, so that I can save the world?

[Andy Burns]

Windows 10 ?

[Spike]

Don't bother. When I tried it, the response was "We cannot process your request at this time'.

[charles]

You do need a relevant app.

[The Other Mike]

Guessing it uses the NHS app which is deemed secure via a smartphone (iOS or Android) but isn't, as far as I can tell available via a web interface

So maybe get a smartphone?

--

[Tricky Dicky]

I did on an iPad and after a long delay it finally popped up but verifying I got two errors in downloading the pages eventually after pressing the reload page button it all went through successfully but each page took an age to load up.

Richard

[Max Demian]

Well apart from needing a smartphone, you need one with a camera good enough to read QR codes. If you are to do just what they say, you need the camera app to have a built in QR code reader - some do, some don't. If not you need to download a separate app. Why can't they give an alternative method of access, like a (reasonably short) URL, or point to a menu option on the NHS website?

If you succeed in reading the code, and once you've got past the error message, they ask you for an email address that they can use to sent information to you. This is not run by NHS but some company I've never heard of, which asks me to approve the (typically incomprehensible) set of "terms and conditions". Generally I would only agree if these are from a reputable, known organisation, or they are about something that doesn't really matter. Who knows what <unknown company> will do with the health information they are being given?

[polygonum_on_google]

The QR code works on my phone - by opening the NHS COVID-19 app.

I rather suspect you might not have that installed on your Windows 10 laptop. Largely because it only exists in Android and IOS versions. And is based on technology provided by Google and Apple - not Microsoft.

Further, the idiots who set up the QR creation have used techniques which make the displayed QR code far larger than it need be. Meaning that on many phones you actually have to get closer to the QR code - sometimes resulting in reduced social distancing being possible.

[Andy Burns]

I haven't received a flu letter so, I couldn't scan it even if I wanted to, but various flu related NHS QR codes I can see from letters or posters on the internet, are just URLs encoded as QR codes

e.g.

The covid location check-in barcodes use a UKC19TRACING:1:[long-alphanumeric-encoded-string] scheme which presuambly has some sort of association with the NHS covid app?

[Jethro_uk]

UK "government" QR codes are odd anyway. I had to unpick and recreate one a while ago, and it was impossible. I could *read* it. But no known software seemed capable of regenerating it. Putting the extracted data inot every single algorithm available did not produce what was printed on the letter.

[Jethro_uk]

There are quite a few QR encoding schemes.

And one letter I had (not NHS, DWP) while I could read the QR code, it was impossible to recreate it using the scheme it was supposed to have used.

I filed it under "lifes too short", but it was interesting.

(I was creating an electronic copy of a document that they really don't want created electronically, and it had a QR code in the corner that I needed to put on the submitted version).

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

I get an error when I click 'GET' - This file does not have an app associated with it.....

Win 10 64bit.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I don't think computers are equipped with the drivers etc. I was talking to somebody the other day complaining that the qr code reader on the test and trace app assumed eyesight on the part of the user, I was actually told that in many ways this scanning was not needed since the joint Apple/google api in all the latest updated operating systems look for bluetooth and exchange secure codes as long as you are in range. This is not seen my the authorities and remains on phones unless you get a positive test then YOU have to enter the positive test into your phone and the data of the people you encountered in the last few days is sent to test and trace. The data is only kept on your phone for 21 days apparently if you do not get the ping from the joint api cos somebody tested positive. I've been trying to make the nhs normal app on the phone work for months now it wants to scan my passport, well if you want people to use your app make it bleedin simple to use!

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I use windoze 7. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

See the answer about it being needed. actually the qr code has been around for some time now. Its not easy to use for a blind user. Brian

[Andy Burns]

Here it launched MS store, I clicked install, it asks if I want to sign-in, I say "NO", it installs, I click launch, it asks for perm to use camera, it displays camera view

But it was very reluctant to read the QR code from a package that was to hand, and it was full of adverts, so I wouldn't bother anyway.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I can ocr my dwp letters OK. They seem to be far better printed these days so my phone and voice dream scanner work well on them. Brian

[Jethro_uk]

Yes, but that's because they are deliberately made to be accessible.

Mysteriously, the forms for PIP and ESA aren't.

You go figure.

[Chris Hogg]

Thanks Andy. It worked up to a point, except I got the message that the site was down for maintenance. Saving the world will have to wait...

[Andy Burns]

Where did it end-up trying to take you to?