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Facility for blood tests needs reviewing,,,

Story from nhs.uk

"Facility for blood tests needs reviewing,,,"

About: Queen's Hospital (Romford)

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Took my 83 year old father to Queen's today for a blood test. We arrived at 0730. The electronic ticket sign was showing that No 18 was being seen to. Dad then took his ticket - but he was number 95 ! We were there over two hours just for a simple blood test appointment. Obviously the place was extremely busy. It cost me £3.60 to use the car park for that length of time, so perhaps we should have got the bus instead. Worst thing of all is the location. Those waiting are seated near the entrances to other departments, so people keep getting in each other's way. It was busier than Heathrow Airport and yet it was so early in the day. There really needs to be a dedicated site for blood tests that is away from the main building. I saw a friend of mine while I was waiting and she had a ticket number of over 200. I hope someone can look at this and move blodd tests to a more appropriate another location. The Harold Wood Polyclinic springs to mind, or the Victoria in Pettits Lane.

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Responses

Response from Queen's Hospital 10 years ago
Queen's Hospital

Submitted on 16/09/2013 at 15:21
Published on nhs.uk on 17/09/2013 at 04:00

I am very sorry that you experienced such a long delay. On that particular day we had four staff absent through sickness and were also experiencing exceptionally high demand – 757 people came to the department for a blood test. This led to unacceptable delays for patients. Throughout the day we were able to redeploy staff from other areas so that delays reduced, and staff also worked late to ensure that every patient could be seen. The Trust only provides phlebotomy services at Queen’s and King George hospitals, but there are also community clinics held elsewhere in Havering which may be more accessible for you. This includes at Harold Wood polyclinic and the Victoria Centre every weekday morning. We will remind GPs that they should be making their patients aware of the community clinics available so that people know that they do not have to come into hospital to have their bloods taken. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

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