Elderly FIL and blood test

Some GPs have direct access to the hospital booking system, it is possible, but it's not standard and it depends on the local health authority

Correct. If you are being seen at different hospitals ( different NHS trusts) for different conditions as can be the case, often have to take your paper records so the doctor has a full view - had to do this with my late husband on many occasions.

Each NHS trust has its own system. No such thing as National when it comes to a full single view of a patient records . It's inefficient for the staff who waste lots of time and checking histories with patients and can't see records and for patients like your FIL who forget their papers.

I mean I think there's more important things at the minute than looking at blood test forms
The year long wait for gynaecology would be a start!

Wow - the NHS is really in the dark ages. Where I live (Sweden) it is all computerised. The doctor sends the list of tests to be taken electronically to practice nurses that do the blood tests so that when you turn up for your appointment they are all ready for you with the right test tubes assembled and those little barcoded sticky labels all printed out and ready. You can even look up your results online via the app.

If for some reason you cannot get an appointment you can go to the drop in blood tests clinic at the local hospital and wait your turn. You register your presence at a little computer station on arrival, type in your personal number and then when the phlebotomist comes out to call you they have your details and have got the test tubes and labels ready.

It's been like this since the mid 90s

Notes app on iPhone is great for this
List of medication
List of health conditions
List of operations
List of consultants and which hospital/dept they are at

I just hand it over when they ask about meds!

They should but they can't as per my previous post about lack of unified records.

Suspect this OP just wants to bash the NHS to be honest.

I worked in the NHS for many years. Knowing how disjointed it all is, l always carry in my handbag a list of all medical treatments I've had over the years and what I'm prescribed.
So that l can produce it if I'm suddenly in A+E at any hospital .
Do keep a record as things happen, it is surprising how quickly it can all get mixed up.
I worked in the lab long before bar codes were invented, and before all the machines that are now used for testing. It was a much more interesting job then but a lot fewer specimens processed each day.

Different areas work differently. But generally pathology requests (eg bloods, swabs, urine, sputum and stool samples) are generated by a requesting clinician. Most areas use a clinical pathology system - ours is called ICE and links all local GP surgeries to the local regional hospital.

So the GP, or hospital doctor, will put the request on ICE and whoever the patient sees for the sample will be able to view the request, print the label (which is barcoded and attached to the sample tube or pot) and send it to the lab. No form needed here, just a barcoded patient specific label for that specific test.

If a patient turns up and there is nothing on ICE (which happens often as the hospital doctor forgets to put the request on) we cannot take their blood as 1, we don’t know what tests they wanted and there are hundreds and hundreds of potential test requests, and 2, the results would come back to us if we guessed and put them on ICE and not the hospital doctor.

It’s the same with forms - some other hospitals nearby that we’re not linked to by ICE can only request bloods using their forms. No form, no blood test.

It’s not about being a jobsworth. It’s about the patient taking responsibility for their health by bringing the form they were given (and staff making it clear they need to take the form with them to the phlebotomist!).

You are determined to blame the system. Your FIL forgot the form and caused the problem. We have to tick a box to confirm we will bring our form with us when we book an appointment.

@ExitViaGiftShop with the greatest respect, I think everybody knows the whole NHS needs ‘rebooting’. But this is not the area to start in unfortunately… the suggestions you’re making would cost millions/billions to implement and that money is desperately needed elsewhere. Your replies show a distinct lack of understanding of what state the NHS is in if you think the IT system is what is draining the money from the NHS.

For example- newly qualified student nurses have NO JOBs in my trust despite a severe lack of funding for the (many!) vacancies…complete vacancy freeze for the foreseeable! How much money is wasted training nurses we can’t employ (despite needing them!)

Your FIL needs to take his slip with him.

I really hope very soon the NHS IT Systems will talk to each other- but there is other fish to fry first (putting it very lightly!)

Well it depends- we have a national
Portal so probably could lookup what form has been requested and reprint it. But that's hospital setting and some GPs - it's not universal for GPs. Also in the phleb dept it's not like in Gp they are just raking the blood not looking up on the computer

I used to work in A&E and yes, we had no medical info on an unconscious person at all if someone was visiting the area. The only caveat:
-If the person had been to that trust before, we'd get 'some' info
-If a relative/friend came with them or had told the paramedics info
-Someone with a severe allergy, should carry an allergy alert card, bracelet or necklace to alert paramedics/medical staff in this situation!

People are also confusing having a blood test at their own GP practice, which may have access to print off another copy of the request form.

IF the blood test was requested by a consultant/clinician within a hospital, say on a ward upstairs, and you go to that hospital or trusts phlebotomy clinic, they too might have access to print off another form
If you are going from a GP surgery to a phlebotomy clinic at the hospital, in every area I've lived- you take the form with you.

What did your father think the paperwork was for that he was given OP?

The bottles are not manufactured with anything to be scanned. That would be unbelievably expensive as each individual bottle would need a unique code, which means each will need to be manufactured with a separate mould. A barcode sticker is really the most cost-efficient option. Each bottle is labelled with a barcode sticker, the same barcode is attached to the bag. In the unlikely event that the sticker does fall off, there is plenty of duplication to ensure the sample can still be processed.

Do you really think "the whole separate department" is there just for this one surgery? Or just for GP surgeries? The department is there the service all of the community and the hospital it's attached to. Even if the GPs are doing their own bloods, there still needs to be a phlebotomy department.

@ExitViaGiftShop

It's the same system we have here. Last time I went for a blood test at least three people were turned away because they didn't have their forms.

So you've rebooked the test but FIL will still have to have a form to take with him. Who originally requested the tests? Because if FIL can't find the form he was given at the time he will have to go back to whoever it was and get a duplicate form otherwise he will be turned away again.

The form will have all his details on and tell the phlebotomist which blood tests need to be done, which colour tops on the bottles, and will accompany the samples to the lab.

Standard that you have a form but our surgery sends them electronically to hospital or surgery practice nurse .

It would be so convenient for all the systems to talk, but none of the health care professionals are being obstructive- they just can’t get the information. The form is signed by a doctor/nurse, if they’d of ‘quickly rung the surgery’ and stayed on hold (for 1hr 8 minutes last week i might add!) the form would still not be signed and phlebotomists cannot ‘order’ test results.

Blame chronic lack of funding and the reluctance to fully fund the NHS, not the staff in this instance!

but all he had to do was take the form @Havanananana - then nobody needed to do anything else?

I really cannot agree with you.

"The GP is very busy" - but not too busy to input the test request into an IT system, so that the secretary can print off a referral letter to send to the hospital, where another secretary allocates an appointment time (which might, or might not, be convenient for the patient) and then sends a letter to the patient, who then knows where and when he is supposed to go. In the time it takes the GP to dictate the letter, or input the info, the blood test could have been taken, or as others have said, the practice nurse could have taken the sample.

So what if the patient forgets the letter? Even if we accept this convoluted "system" why does the phlebotomist not have a list (electronic would be great) of who is coming that day, and why they are coming? E.g. Mr Smith is coming for XYZ test, Ms Jones needs AA and NN tests and so on. Belt and braces - and far more efficient for everyone than relying on patients to bring a slip (assuming that the letter actually told them that this was a requirement)?

None of what the OP describes, or what you describe, actually puts the patient at the centre of care. Nothing is organised to make it as easy and convenient as possible for the patient. It is almost as though the patient is an inconvenience to "the system"

Would you rather the GPs were taking blood, which can be done by someone else far more cheaply, or doing the bit of their job that most people can't do?

A CEO can hoover his own office, it's hardly rocket science, but it's not a good use of their time.