"Community Phlebotomy Service"

In the middle of July I had a telephone appointment with my consultant who said he would request blood tests to be done by the community phlebotomist. I am not housebound by any means but at this time it seems to be the preferred way to get blood samples instead of a patient going to their GP practice. Not having heard anything after four weeks I contacted Ayr Hospital who could see that the tests had been requested although it did say “on hold” next to the request. I was told they would email the consultant. I had to call back today as I still haven’t heard anything. They said that “on hold” didn’t mean anything really but it was just that the service had a backlog because of so many similar requests.

They could not give me a method of getting in touch with the phlebotomy service to find out when my tests would be done. I tried to find out how to get in touch by phoning my GP practice but was unable to get through after twelve minutes of waiting being number one in the queue. I tried going through Ayr Hospital switchboard and was put through to a number giving out the engaged tone. I do understand why there is a backlog of people waiting on tests but there should be a way of finding out roughly how long the wait might be. Depending on the outcome of the tests I will require treatment and the delay is worrying as my symptoms persist and I know the delay in treatment could cause serious problems both for myself and the extra burden that it would put on the NHS.