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New Needles for bloods

Posted By centaurusyq47

"New Needles for bloods"

About: Aberdeen Royal Infirmary / Outpatients

(as the patient),

I attended an outpatient’s appointment at Clinic G, Purple Zone, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary this week.

At this appointment I had bloods taken at the outpatients department. The nurse was fantastic, which is more than can be said about the new needles being used. 

This is the third time I have had to suffer these needles and honestly, I don't think they should be allowed to be used. I have been attending clinics for over 25 years and I have never had so much bruising after bloods being taken.

I always have tried to take care of the veins that bloods are taken from and for those getting bloods on a regular basis, these new needles could undoubtedly damage veins to the extent they cannot be used for bloods.

I have experienced several other patients commenting on this and I think consideration should be given to using the older type needles for those who have to attend on a regular basis.

As I say, the nurses are brilliant but to have to work with this inferior equipment is not correct. 

I hope consideration could be given to this to help patients and nurses alike.

Regards

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Responses

Response from Jennifer Thomson, Senior Charge Nurse, Maxillofacial Out-patient Department, NHS Grampian 7 months ago
We have made a change
Jennifer Thomson
Senior Charge Nurse, Maxillofacial Out-patient Department,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 03/10/2024 at 14:07
Published on Care Opinion at 15:45

Hello centaurusyq47,

Thank you for sharing your experience of having bloods taken at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. I’m really sorry it has taken me a while to reply, I wanted to make sure I had confirmation of a change before sharing a response.

Starting with the positive feedback for the nursing staff – thank you! As Senior Charge Nurse in Clinic G it means a lot to me, and the team, to know that the nurse you saw was fantastic. We all work as hard as we can to make patients time with us as easy as possible but sometimes, as you have mentioned, equipment lets us down.

I’m sorry to hear you came away with bruising (and not for the first time) due to the needles. I am pleased to confirm that new needles were released at the end of September. The team have viewed prototypes of these and are much happier with the design as they seem very similar to the needles used previously. Sometimes new orders can take a wee while to reach the teams but we are working as quickly as we can to ensure they are available in the clinic soon.

Thanks again for sharing your feedback which has helped to ensure a change was made for the benefit of both patients and staff.

Take care,

Jen

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