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A frustrating experience

Posted By Gazlar

"A frustrating experience"

About: Lincoln County Hospital / General medicine

(as a service user),

I arrived at Phlebotomy Clinic 7 at opening and found there were quite a few of us.  I overheard that one of the two staff members had to spend her first hour carrying out temperature checks elsewhere.

With only one person taking bloods it is a long process, meaning an even later arrival at work, greater parking costs and a ridiculously frustrating experience.

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Responses

Response from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 4 years ago
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 02/10/2019 at 10:42
Published on Care Opinion at 10:42

Dear Gazlar

Thank you for sharing your story with us and we're sorry that your visit to clinic 7 was a poor experience.

All of our blood-taking staffing are dual-roled Medical Lab Assistants / Phlebotomists. This means that they have other (just as important) tasks to do as part of their job remit within the laboratory. Daily temperature checks are a vital if under looked part of the lab duties and are essential in order for the lab to maintain its UKAS accredited status. I can sympathise with your frustrations at having to wait but the team have competing duties that are also required throughout the working day which can cause delays.

Andrew Cawthra
Blood Sciences Laboratory Manager - Lincoln

Update posted by Gazlar (a service user)

Let’s be right Mr Cawthra, it's my belief that the lab at Lincoln has been dumbed down and the majority of the work moved elsewhere. Staff are now dual roled.

As for UKAS accredited status, costs could be cut as this accreditation is in my opinion unnecessary for a local scientific lab. There are other standards by which the lab is or can be measured.

There really is no need to leave the public waiting for upwards of 2-3 hours for a simple blood test. As the Blood Sciences Laboratory Manager, perhaps you could approach this problem with the Hospital Managers, patient representative groups etc to discuss better outcomes.

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