To ask what would happen if blood test tubes runout

[Whocareswherewego76]

I know there is a shortage but what happens if they run our.

@FleasInMyKnees

It's a shame staff have been throwing away out of date unused blood collection tubes for years, now when we need them we dont have enough.

If they are out of date because the reagent could have degraded, then they are indeed useless.

Whether there should or could be a way to return for cleaning and refilling would have to be answered by soneibe who understands the manufacturing process

My dd is in hospital at the moment (and working her way through quite a chunk of the remaining supply I think), and in each setting (Emergency, EAU, ward), a member of staff has told me what a concern this is.

It's a shame staff have been throwing away out of date unused blood collection tubes for years, now when we need them we dont have enough.

How would this help? You can’t use tubes if culture medium, anti-coagulants etc have gone off so how would expired stock help.

Well I'm hanging on to my ceramic bedpan for now.
I told DH it would be of some use one day.
We're a' doomed, I tell ya, doomed!

@FleasInMyKnees

It's a shame staff have been throwing away out of date unused blood collection tubes for years, now when we need them we dont have enough.

It's a shame that staff followed guidance which meant that there was far far less chance of the samples being contaminated and tests having to be repeated, or worst, giving incorrect results?

@MissTrip82

I can’t believe that people who clearly have no idea of the different reagents and preservatives in path tubes feel qualified to comment.

Truly this is the age of ignorance.

Absolutely this! It's crazy.

How would this help? You can’t use tubes if culture medium, anti-coagulants etc have gone off so how would expired stock help.

It depends in part whether the expiry dates are 'true' or not though. I read NoNotHimTheOtherOne's really interesting link, and those materials used have really different degradation behaviours. If all the tubes in one batch are given the same expiry date no matter what they contain, I'd say there's a good argument to look at that again and see whether any could have it extended. (If they're set per type then of course there's no point.)

What causing the problem though? Lack of materials to make the bottles, speed they can be made, lack of materials for the caps?

Hopping, I know Expired stock doesnt help, I spent many hours on nights going through the tubes on the ward, throwing away out of date ones. Stocks were automatically replenished without anyone checking that we already had some so boxes just get chucked out instead of using them first before the expiry date. It's the same with syringes and needles, so much just gets wasted.

Not all hospitals in the UK use the same type of specimen collection bottles. We’re unaffected at work because we use Sarstedt bottles. If it becomes critical, some labs will have to set up their analysers to use other types of bottles. Most labs are now automated from start to finish, so the wrong type of bottle won’t work on certain systems without being configured.
The worst case scenario is that a supply of other branded bottles will be used and these samples will be sent to laboratories in other parts of the country that are set up to process them.
The shortage has been announced so that hospitals can reserve the bottles for inpatient and emergency patients. Because we have a 1 hour time frame to process these. We can’t ship those off to another lab.
Primary care patients (G.P) samples in most cases are not urgent. If the situation of using labs in other parts of the country, that are using different types of bottles happens, then results will be delayed by a day or two.
We cannot recycle blood tubes after use. The bottles and blood in the tubes are incinerated because it’s a biohazard. I agree that it is not great for the environment but recycling them would use more energy than creating new ones.

So glad I'm not currently pregnant. I had to have 3 blood tests a week for the last 10 weeks with both DS and DD and it used up 3 tubes each time. Looking back I was amazed I had any blood left

@hashbrownsandwich your surgery obviously haven't seen the latest NHSE directive. Zero routine blood allowed in primary care, very clear rules on acute hospitals cutting usage by 25%

The Venn diagram of people who think we should just go back into Afghanistan to sort the Taliban out, and people who think we should just put blood sample tubes in the dishwasher, is a circle

@NHSmummy84 the reduction is for all tubes across all organisations because other brands will be used to bridge the gap

My god. This thread has given me a laugh, at the very least. Next week at work I shall suggest dishwashing used blood tubes to my manager, and await their response

I’ve just moved area and am pregnant, new trust insisted that they needed to redo booking bloods. Bit annoyed they didn’t just take the info from my old notes now
I’d have been happy to ‘take the risk’ but guess it’s health and safety.

@endlesscraziness
We’re still seeing the same volume of work coming into the lab currently. It would be unfair for some areas to be on limited services while others were allowed to carry on as normal, so I can see why it’s a blanket rule.
Hopefully it won’t go on for much longer, fingers crossed, or I might be at work trying to find something to do!

I got a letter, out of the blue yesterday, telling me that due to the lockdown, I haven't had the regular blood test due to me having PCOS. I've never ever had a blood test for this so given there seems to be a supply problem, it seems odd to tell me suddenly that I must have tests.

@jimmyhill

The Venn diagram of people who think we should just go back into Afghanistan to sort the Taliban out, and people who think we should just put blood sample tubes in the dishwasher, is a circle

Lmao that actually made me laugh out loud, a lot, it's true. Thing is I can absolutely get people asking questions, putting forward ideas and reading responses; but it's those who seem to think no one in that field has ever considered what would be an excellent decision...if workable.

[quote endlesscraziness]@hashbrownsandwich your surgery obviously haven't seen the latest NHSE directive. Zero routine blood allowed in primary care, very clear rules on acute hospitals cutting usage by 25% [/quote]
My GP hasn't mentioned anything. I had read about it and asked at the blood clinic and they just said it's fine. Clinic was heaving, running an hour behind.
My bloods were these, one for my doctor and one for consultant

@Coulddowithanap

There's a lot of items used that should be sterilised and reused. I was shocked when my friend (who's a nurse) said their scissors are disposed of after one use. It's crazy and so wasteful.

I used to be a hospital porter and moved waste, both bog standard and clinical, from the wards. The sheer amount would shock you.

I work in paeds and still use butterfly & syringes for taking bloods, I haven't actually heard of a shortage which surprises me but we take 100's of samples a day so it is concerning.

I had routine bloods done a few weeks. I have very low potassium. Gp thought it was down to my meds. Repeat bloods were to be done this week
I have rebooked for 20th.. not life threatening but what i don't really understand is my appointment is just rebooked. So will still use the same amount where are the extra supplies coming from.

@AlbertBridge

At a push you could look into every site that uses them having industrial washers that wash at a very high temp

Like a dishwasher, basically? They wash hot enough to sterilise.

No they don't. Dishwashers do not sterilise.