To say this is code for 'we dropped it'

[Bakewellisntjustacake]

Haha! This isn't really funny but am I right?

Went for a very urgent blood test on Tuesday and had a text today saying 'dear bakewell please make an urgent blood test appointment as there was a processing error at the lab and your sample has not been processed in my head this is code for 'we lost it or we dropped it'

Even more annoyingly they can't fit me in til Thursday next week but they're going to ring me in the week for a cancellation because I'm being tested for leukaemia and lymphoma so this is very annoying not to have these results!

Dropped it, error in the labeling or request form, clotted, many reasons. Sometimes rejected because the pen runs out half way through writing on the bottle so the lab reject it for being written in 2 different pens.

Annoying though. I hope you get an appointment quickly.

Could be clotted, used to happen to a few of our samples.

Or, as the receptionist told a friend, 'Oh yes, they forgot it had to be put in ice. Sorry about that'.

It could be, I used to work in a lab and dropped/lost samples were incredibly rare. There may also have been a genuine problem such as a clotted sample or an insufficient amount or the sample was taken in the wrong bottle, or insufficient patient details on the bottle.

Hopefully you will get your bloods done soon, is there not a drop in centre where you can get bloods taken quicker? You shouldn’t have to wait.

@Scarby9 oh wow

Could be stored at the wrong temp, arrived late, had something spilled on the label, etc etc as well.

Do you have anywhere else that does tests? Here there is a testing place in a large Sainsbury's, as well as at the hospital, so you don't actually have to go back to the GP/clinic to have the blood taken, as long as you have the form. I'd be desperate to get it done any way possible.

I am desperate to get it redone! They only rang at 5.30 to tell me it hadn't been processed. I don't know what blood tests I actually need otherwise I'd ask my colleague to just do it tomorrow but I haven't got the form etc. I'm going to call on Monday and ask them to fit me wherever and I'll drive to a hospital site if required as it needs to be done

Unforgivable that you have to wait under the circumstances.

And then, when my friend turned up at the hospital to have the blood test redone, the nurse asked' Have you fasted for 15 hours?'.
No, because no-one had said she should, nor hsd she fasted before the original - non-iced blood sample at rhe GPs.
Third time lucky, hopefully, although she hasn't had the results yet.

Does your GP have emergency saturday appointments, so that at least you could talk to the receptionist and get the forms printed off again? Or perhaps the lab that phoned you could issue new forms. Maybe even 111 - do they have access to your records? I don't know. Probably not. Worth checking though. Otherwise monday morning, someone should be able to fit you in, if they realise that it's urgent, even if it's at the hospital or wherever.

A friend was once recalled for a smear as they had dropped her slide !! I would have been well pissed off and I always thought it would have been better if she had been given the reasons you were provided.

My phlebotomist once called me up apologising that she'd used the wrong bottles for all my blood tests and to invite me back.

I always wondered if she was pregnant and it was baby brain. She looked mortified!

I was once recalled because 'they didn't have time to process my sample'

Lab tubes are plastic and don't crack if dropped-it's highly likely the sample clotted or was not placed on ice or they didn't draw enough blood for the test. (My experience in the US)

I worked in the cytology lab in pathology, and we were blamed a lot for mistakes that were actually made by the nurse/doctor/whoever took the smear. We would receive unlabelled slides, incomplete request forms and slides smashed because they weren't properly packaged. It became more annoying when some GP surgeries decided that they didn't want to own up to what they had done, so they gave out our phone number so irate patients could call us.
The funniest thing was when the practice nurse at my own GP surgery tried to tell me that I needed another smear because "the lab" had broken the slide. Nope!

Most hospitals have a phlebotomy dept which is generally just walk in if you have a form.

I was really surprised the other day - GP rang with blood test results and I asked about something that hadn't been included in the test - whenever that's happened in the past, I've had to do and give blood again. GP said they'd still have the sample and she'd request a further test on it.

@Bakewellisntjustacake Agree!

I had a smear once done by a nurse who had just started in the job. I know they all have to learn but FFS!!!! She rammed the metal clampy thing up so hard I almost jumped out of my skin, then she opened it so wide that my eyes nearly popped out and I SCREECHED with pain. 'Oooh sorry' she said sheepishly. AND she pinched me on the way out!

Three weeks later the result comes through. It said 'it was an ambiguous test result, you need to retest.' For some reason though, I couldn't do it for another 3 months!

I had it done again - I demanded a different nurse, (she did it really well btw!) She told me that the last time, there weren't enough cells for them to be able to tell what was what. So the silly bint who did my smear before, didn't even take enough cells. So the 'ambiguous test result' was code for 'the nurse who did your smear didn't do it properly!'

Loads reasons. Wrong tube used for test, wrong form, sample left laying about and forgot to be dispatched, lost in transit, broken in his transit, left laying about in transit so it's taken too many days, form filled in wrong. Usually once they get to the lab not much goes wrong unless it's a tiny amount of blood.

I work in pathology. The machine we use to separate the blood has been known to throw samples around (very rarely) so could be that, could be any other reason such as - unlabelled, insufficiently labelled, haemolysed, leaked in transit, dropped, or the request card filled incorrectly.

My GP told me "not enough blood" was code for "oops we dropped it" 🤣

In A&E lots of samples got rejected. Often this came in batches and it is SO frustrating for everyone involved. Wrong labels, wrong bottles, the sample clotting (bane of my life!) are some examples. Sample being under filled also very annoying but so tricky with poor veins. It happens a lot. Some also got lost in our hospital pod system which meant I walked the majority of my samples by hand at night.

it actually really annoys me when they don’t take ownership of mistakes. BA lost my bag once (completely different scenario i know) but the language they use “unfortunately your bag did not make the flight” really pissed me off. I checked it in, it was labelled and sent off on the airport conveyor system. would it kill them to say sorry someone fucked up instead of using a form of words that suggested my bag couldn’t be arsed to get on the plane?