Elderly FIL and blood test

[ExitViaGiftShop]

My elderly FIL had a blood test booked for yesterday, which was due to take place in the Phlebotomy dept of his local hospital. He turned up and when it was his turn, was told by the phlebotomist that they could not take his bloods because he had not brought his 'blood form' with him. This is a piece of paper which apparently details the type of blood test he needs. So, he had to go home and I've rebooked it for him.

Is this standard procedure or did he encounter a jobs worth? Surely all the info regarding his blood test is held on the NHS computer? It's 2024, not 1994! I'm really
annoyed that an 86 year old man was turned away and that the staff could not have found a solution to this non problem. AIBU?

most people have no idea how bad IT is in 'the NHS'. What you've described is a bit inconvenient (and not that uncommon). A lot of the IT set-up is not just inconvenient for patients, at the very best it adds significant amounts of time to even the simple jobs, and at the worst it leaves us having to make best guesses and hope we don't stuff up royally because the tech is just not robust enough for the job.

Because it’s a lot more complicated and expensive than you think. Sure it would make sense, but who will pay for it?

Its not the NHSs fault he didn’t take the form, people need to take responsibility for themselves instead of blaming someone else.

The OP hasn’t said anywhere that is was a GP request actually.

GPs rarely send patients into hospital phlebotomy departments with forms anyway, they’re usually generated by hospital doctors.

GPs tend to do their own bloods “in house”. Hence why the requests are usually on the system for their own staff to take.

Also did you know GPs aren’t core contracted to do secondary care bloods? Requests from hospital are done as a favour to the patient to save them travelling to hospital or under a locally commissioned service, so may vary between areas.

But they don’t know who the requester is if they have no form!

My understanding is that the blood test was requested by his GP, but they cannot do blood tests at his surgery ( I don't know why), so he has the option of various places to choose from in his local area ( south London).

He was told to phone a number to book the appt or scan a QR code and book it online. He kept ringing the number but no one picked up, he told me what had happened, so I scanned the QR code ( he hasn't got a smart phone ) and made the booking for him online. We had various locations to choose from and he chose the local hospital as it had the nearest appt time.

Unfortunately, he turned up without his piece of paper and got turned away. I wonder how people who don't have a smart phone or anyone to help them, would have got on as no one was answering the phone. An utter shambles from start to finish.

So rescheduled blood test is now rebooked for the end of December!

@Sidge where I live the GP's do request blood tests from hospital phlebotomy departments so perhaps don't generalise. And yes, the administrator wouldn't automatically know who issued the request but presumably the op's FIL did and, you know, they could have asked. Or would that have been too hard for someone who works for the NHS.

Finally, age is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act (2010) and helping this elderly gentleman would have been a reasonable adjustment and a reasonable expectation. We all know how important equality is throughout the NHS and equality is not about treating everyone the same, it's about making adjustments so the person has the same level of access as the next person.

@ExitViaGiftShop your poor FIL. I hope it isn't a serious matter and that this delay will not detrimentally affect his health.

You're assuming that he actually knew that he had to take the form. From my own experience of attending hospital appointments in the UK it is often far from clear what the patient is supposed to do, or what they should bring with them.

Why is it seemingly such a strange idea to think that the phlebotomist would also have a copy of the referral letter or some sort of check-list (e.g. Mr Smith needs test XYZ) and thus know why the patient is attending and what to prepare in advance?

So yes, the FIL should have had the letter with him - but any system that does not have a back-up option needs to be reviewed and redesigned. For good clinical reasons everything else in the NHS is duplicated and double checked - but sometines simple but essential things get overlooked.

And for clarity, I'm not critical of the individual staff involved - I'm critical of the way that work-flow "systems and processes" have been allowed to develop that are accepted as being the norm in some places (other pp have given examples where there are much better processes) and which are met with defensive responses when challenged.

@Havanananana the phlebotomist is literally there to take the blood sample. They have no access to referral letters, request forms beyond what the patient had been given. No identifying what the patient is there for or why beyond the request form the patient should bring.

Phlebotomy departments potentially see hundreds of patients daily. They just don’t have the capacity for accessing all the relevant request info. And if a patient doesn’t have the form the admin staff are unlikely to have the time or resources to call around surgeries, trying to get the necessary info. Heck, the patient forgot his form, he might not remember who asked for the bloods in the first place. Far better to rebook for when he can return and bring the request form with him

@RosesAndHellebores I did say I was generalising. I made a point of saying things vary between areas.

Thank you. He was recently diagnosed with cancer so he's had an absolutely rotten time of it lately.

He was very stressed to be turned away and I think what irritated him further was that the woman who turned him away started questioning him about why he had chosen to come to X hospital when he lived in Y, why not go to a nearer blood testing place? He explained to her that he chose X because it had the closest appt date. He said as he walked out she was saying loudly to her colleague 'Oh that poor man has travelled all the way from
Y to get here and has had a wasted trip' He said she couldn't have cared less when she spoke to him.

I’ve had cancer treatment so you do become familiar with the strange ways of the NHS and what bits of paper you have to have with you for which appointment. I think many in the NHS assume people just know this stuff when they don’t. I’ve had loads of blood tests now but at the beginning I didn’t know about the “take this form or they won’t do the test” thing. Sorry your FIL had a wasted journey. He won’t be the first and won’t be the last.

The worst is the queues at ours
They open at 8am (blood clinic only) and people start queuing from 7am. By 8am, they're full
I've ended up pre booking Saturday ones and going to those as I can't keep taking half a day annual leave and not getting bloods done

@Sidge "the phlebotomist is literally there to take the blood sample. They have no access to referral letters, request forms beyond what the patient had been given. No identifying what the patient is there for or why beyond the request form the patient should bring."

But at some point the GP/Consultant has written a referral letter saying "Please do Test XYZ for Mr Smith"

The phlebotomy dept will have received this referral, so they know that Mr Smith needs Test XYZ - and as they write a detailed letter when informing him of the appointment ("please attend at 10.00 for Test XYZ") there should then be two letters in the department stating the test required (the referral and the appointment letter), so why does the phlebotomist not have this information, and why, if the patient has not brought the letter, can this information not be quickly accessed, either using the patient's name, NI number or NHS number?

The whole system as described is riddled with potential failure points - the patient doesn't know to take the letter, or simply forgets, or drops it in the car park; the phlebotomist has no idea why the patient is there; there is no back-up information that is quickly and easily accessible.... it is crying out to be revised (and as many pp have posted, many places have a much better system in place, right down to the GP (or the GP surgery) being able to take the blood sample, thus cutting out all of these convoluted (and costly) processes.

@Havanananana that's not how it works for any of mine

The GP or consultant types what they want testing and prints a blood form which they hand to me or post depending whether it's out of area or not
I take the blood form to the clinic
The blood clinics don't know I am coming until I turn up and take a ticket or what bloods I need until I hand them the form
I can also take the form to the hospital blood testing bit

There's no referral and no appointment
I can book an appointment on a Saturday but I give them my name and DOB and that's it, they have no other info

Sorry posted too soon

It's literally a massive room of people holding a ticket, you walk in and give the form, they read it and get the right tubes, take the blood and attach the details from the form
That's it

@NC2025NC Thanks for explaining this - it's even worse than what the OP described.

Just think. If the GP or Consultant (or their staff) could take the bloods there and then - which is what happens where I live - then none of the rest of the bloody "system" would even need to exist.

When I see my GP he takes blood samples if needed and sends them for analysis. He can test urine and stool samples actually at the surgery. He has an ultrasound scanner and an X-ray room, and so things like getting a plaster cast on a broken wrist can be done on the spot.

It is the same with the Consultant who I see once a year for an ongoing condition. What would take 4 or 5 appointments in the UK (bloods, urine, ultrasound scan, consultation/results discussion) is handled in one 10-minute appointment - an appointment that I book with the secretary at a time convenient to me, rather than receiving a letter telling me when to come, which might be at a less convenient time.

No forms needed when I went for a blood test. Test was done at a brand new town centre health centre that a lot of GP practices in our area use. I walked in, up in the lift, followed the signs, last sign said sit here and wait - no need to knock.

There was no reception, no other people waiting - just a row of chairs.
There must of been a camera watching because a couple of minutes later a man popped his head round a door and called my name. It was all very Big Brother.

The only confirmation he needed was my DOB. Blood test was done and I was out of there in minutes.

Apart from him I didn't see a single soul which was weird because it is a big building.

Not sure how an elderly person would have managed. It was very swish and very unexpected and not at all like the NHS I know but hey ho it was kinda cool.

Sounds great! 👍 need more of this!

@Havanananana if I go to my haematology appointment I can have my bloods done there and then but I've converted it to a phone appointment as it's a 30 min drive

The issue with that is it's out of area so hospital send me blood forms but for my area or the blood clinic won't accept forms for the hospital area
Then they ring me for my phone appointment and sometimes can't access my bloods as it's out of area

My own GP doesn't do a blood clinic at all

This isn't my surgery but it gives you an idea, it's pick a clinic and turn up

www.broadwaysurgery.nhs.uk/preston-blood-test-clinics

But it can take over AN HOUR to get through to a GP.......you do know this don't you?
(NHS worker here who spends all days talking shit to colleague here ....not. )

Yep
People come to us without a clue what they've come for and think we have a Magic computer we can put their name in.
There are 4 different parts in our one building....all different systems we can't accesses.

@TammyJones that's a problem the NHS needs to sort out then so it can serve the patients, you know the scummy customers who've paid in all their lives, a little better.

If you encountered NHS attitudes and poor service elsewhere, you would take your business elsewhere. The NHS is funded by the people for the people. The people in it need to make it work fir the people.

And everyone I know are brilliant and bend over backwards for our patients but we can only work within the system.
Our staff are the most absolutely lovely people you could ever wish to meet , but while were ringing round trying to help people , we are not helping the the other people....

Basically..bring your letters / forms and be clear what you've come for.,,