"Poor Practice"

Hi

I was ill the last time I was admitted to hospital. A nurse took blood cultures from my port and it came back positive for gram negative rods. Another blood culture and peripheral bloods was requested by the doctor, and the next day a cystic fibrosis nurse took the cultures. The difference in the procedure was obvious, she literally scrubbed the bottle tops before adding the bloods, which the previous nurse did not do, and of course this culture came back negative. Half the nurses doing blood cultures are not following NHS best practice and are failing to clean the bottle tops before adding the blood, leading to false positive reading and unnecessary antibiotic use. I have had 2 positive and 3 negative results in the last month making me have to travel 10 miles back to the hospital and have two doses of antibiotics which make me very ill. Blood cultures are not meant to be taken routinely, but with more nurses running clinics and not having their training updated, this practice is rife in the NHS. I really feel vunerable when going to the nurse led clinic.