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Bloods queues

Posted By Cancer babe

"Bloods queues"

About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Blood Tests (Phlebotomy) Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Cancer Services

(as a service user),

Waiting for bloods was unacceptable time. Not enough nurses only 2. For the amount of people waiting. This isn’t the first time and as I have to have bloods twice a week I have a good idea that it is like this most days. Not a one off. There are not enough chairs either. A lot of people are standing up as no free chairs.

It’s not the poor nurses who do a fabulous job. It’s lack of resources. 

Please employ another nurse for bloods and have 3 blood rooms. I came once and there were 20 people ahead of me and only one nurse.  She was told several times someone was coming to help but no one came. An hour and 49 mins wait. This is way too much. I have bloods done before my appointment with oncology so this can make  me late. I am picked up by taxi and have set times which are inflexible. So no choice . 

I feel sorry for the nurses that are flat out but still lovely. 

Please please sort this out as it’s so stressful and upsetting and uncomfortable coming to hospital and having cancer treatment daily this makes it worse.

WiFi does not work in the waiting area so nothing to distract you either. So frustrating! 

WiFi not good in oncology either! Often does not work 

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Responses

Response from Tom Roberts, Head of Outpatients (Eastern Services), Outpatients (Eastern Services), Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 5 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Tom Roberts
Head of Outpatients (Eastern Services), Outpatients (Eastern Services),
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 09/01/2025 at 14:10
Published on Care Opinion at 14:27

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback, and I apologise that you have had repeated poor experience of waiting for blood tests in the hospital.

Our outpatient and phlebotomy services have been working together to try and improve the situation, as we recognise that waiting times can get too long, which causes difficulties for other clinics and services due to the queues in the corridors.

We have seen increased demand recently for blood tests in outpatients in conjunction with increased demand for ward blood tests, which have to take clinical priority according to our risk register. We have also faced ongoing staffing challenges and space restrictions, which has created a perfect storm and unfortunately worsened patients' experience.

To resolve this, we are looking at a range of workforce ideas to combat the demand, as well as increasing use of our community hubs. As an outpatient team we are committing to being more ready to support the phlebotomy team when queues get too long and we have the staff available, and on a strategic level we are always looking at new ideas to better use our space to give ourselves the right capacity in the right places.

I apologise again for your experience, but thank you for your feedback and thank you for the kind words about our nursing staff.

Many thanks,

Tom Roberts

Head of Outpatients, Eastern Services

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Cancer babe (a service user)

On the occasion that only one nurse was taking bloods. She repeatedly requested help. But although she was told somebody would come help nobody turned up.

So the support from other teams was not there at that time. So the commitment to support was not there. Unless you employ more staff this situation is unlikely to change. I suggest you employ extra staff for the bloods team which could support other teams if they are not needed in bloods. That way patients get a better service and your lovely blood nurses are not burnt out. In my opinion, this situation is not going to get better unless you commit to this change. With all the new homes being built locally the demand will increase not decrease. You need to take action now.

I am not sure how the community hub would work. I expect most patients like I was, are being treated at the hospital and that’s why they go to have bloods taken there. Also the turnaround for bloods at a community hub would I suspect be longer to get the results. Travelling to Exeter everyday from Paignton in my case would not be possible to travel to a community hub as well would not be achievable. As a cancer patient having daily radiation and chemo treatment was exhausting. I could not drive myself. So had to get a taxi.. This may work for some outpatients but not for patients like me who have to travel along way.

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