"Blood tests!"

We would like to thank you for taking the time to post your valuable feedback. We were very sorry to learn about you and your husband’s experience at Hythe Hospital and we hope that you husband was able to get his blood taken today. The waiting room at Hythe Hospital is shared with other services and unfortunately during busy periods and the unpredictability of the numbers of patients coming to have their bloods taken; it is sometimes unable to fully accommodate the patients waiting to be seen. To overcome this issue we have placed additional chairs in the reception area and inner waiting areas. The phlebotomy service is provided Monday to Thursday during normal working hours and on Friday until 11am. There are a number of allocated tickets to ensure the service runs to the working hours and meets the process for ensuring the bloods are transported for reporting. We also offer a booking service which is allocated each morning for those patients who are fasting or require a booked and timely appointment. We are currently reviewing the service to identify a different way to provide it so that all blood tests can be booked. We hope that your husband was able to get his blood test today. We are aware that waiting for your test during busy periods can cause anxiety and we are currently developing a Phlebotomy Service Information and Advice poster which we will distribute around the waiting areas. This poster will provide more detailed information about the service such as, predicted waits, bookable appointment times and accessibility and we will also update the website with this information. Unfortunately we have also had some considerable staffing difficulties within this service and have allocated staff from Lymington Hospital to support the Hythe service for which we sincerely apologise. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with you therefore please would you kindly contact Complaints and PALS on 02380 874065 or e-mail hp-tr.complaints@nhs.net Kind regards Complaints and PALS