Elderly FIL and blood test

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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?

@TammyJones I think younhave missed the point that an elderly gentleman with cancer, under stress, forgot his forms and a bit of kindness wouldn't have gone amiss. My Trust is not helpful. At All.

Last year my mother, an elderly lady then of 87, had to have a complex heart procedure at a London hospital 70 miles from her home. She had to arrange a blood test at that hospital before her Consultant's appointment. The hospital had switched to on-line booking only. She tried and got into a pickle. She rang and asked if she could make an appointment by phone. A delightful staff member told her no she couldn't and if she couldn't use a computer, she needed to find someone who could. Fortunately she has me, albeit 90 minutes away but I was able to do it on her behalf.

It was disgracefully unhelpful. The hospital was in South London - possibly the same one the OP's FIL went to. I wrote to the CEO and got a very nice letter back advising they would review their procedures and acknowledging it added an additional stress for my elderly mother facing a complex procedure to save and extend her life.

The Consultant's and cardiac team who cared for her, after a last minute cancellation due not to capacity but an administrative error, were outstanding. Phlebotomy and general management and organisation were not but the overall attitudes and service standards were far higher and more caring than at my local trust in Surrey/SW London.

Kindness is my middle name, but there is only so much you can do..,
But there should be provisions for people who don't use IT

The system should be more robust than this. For goodness sake, why haven't the govt managed to digitalise everyone's health records by now.

I’m shocked by this. Can only imagine it gives everyone a headache, patients and staff.

Would be worth the fortune to fix I think.

I’m laughing at all the outrage about nhs IT systems, even though it’s not actually funny. But this is what nhs workers have to deal with every day.

The phlebotomist isn’t being obstructive by not taking blood, it just isn’t possible without knowing what to take. It’s also not as easy as just making a phone call and getting it emailed as suggested. 1, the blood forms aren’t designed for that and 2, it would take so much time and if you do it for one patient you have to do it for all.

In an ideal world, of course the gp would take bloods straight away but unfortunately it is a waste of their resources when they could be seeing other patients. They get 10 mins per patient including writing notes. You may have to help someone to remove clothing, you may struggle to find a vein and this can easily take 10 mins itself.

It is far from ideal but at least threads like this educate people about the nhs systems as it is all too easy to blame staff.

@QueenCremant
Thank you ...that's what I was trying to say.

I think one of the issues is that NHS care seems to vary massively depending on your area in the country.

Our GP is fantastic - you can always get a same-day appointment (either face-to-face or over the phone), you can pre-book online in advance (and cancel or rearrange online too). You can get blood tests within 24 hours - the appointments are 15 minutes (or half hour if you need). I've had three referrals recently and have got them all without issue. Yet I read threads online where people can't book in advance and have to wait weeks for even a routine appointment.

It's bonkers how it can work so, so well and simultaneously be such a disaster!

Exactly this. I was riled by the OP putting "blood form" in speech marks like it was something the phlebotomist had made up. Also the mention of "the NHS computer".

Im surprised that people still don't realise that the NHS doesn't have one main computer system that everyone can access. It's well documented and a long lamented problem by staff and patients. It's mentioned in the news fairly regularly.

FIL made a mistake. Staff let him know. He'll need to go back.

Indeed but the elderly gentleman is also dealing with a cancer diagnosis and some adjustment needs to be made to allow him to get his presumably important blood test before the end of December.

Governments of different complexions have spent many, many billions trying to achieve both the longitudinal record (the centralised system for all historical health records) and "open data" systems (ie whatever systems are used for managing on going health data it can be shared with other relevant medical practitioners).

Both these approaches to data management are normal in any kind of large business and in most modern health care systems.

Initiatives haven't failed for want of money or even brains - they fail because the little fiefdoms in the NHS simply refuse to engage and quite often will only cooperate if their own pet solution is implemented. Patient considerations and benefits rarely enter the discussion.

Since nobody holds the fiefdoms to account (much easier to blame the government or suppliers) then every few years a programme is written off to be restarted under a new name with a new budget as another attempt is made.

The point is that an 86 year old having blood tests for cancer did not fully understand the kafkaesque myriad of systems for test, bookings, appointments and he shouldn't have to. Its the antithesis of a patient centric approach (at least for more vulnerable patients).

Why are you "surprised" that joe public doesn't realise that the NHS subdivisions choose to stick with business processes and systems which looked dated 30 years ago? Its utter insanity and its nothing to do with money or governments

How much do you know about the back end systems in Tesco or Barclays bank?

Absolutely normal. They need the request form to know how much to rake and what tests to run.

I’m laughing at all the outrage about nhs IT systems, even though it’s not actually funny. But this is what nhs workers have to deal with every day.

You can't expect Joe and Jane Public to know how the NHS works though. I also don't think expecting your notes from one appointment to be linked to another (relevant) appointment is remotely outrageous - it should be the absolute bare minimum that the person doing your bloods knows what they're checking before your appointment and why!

The fact that the NHS expect people to bring pieces of paper with them (that they probably received in an appointment weeks or months ago) is just insane - and I have to wonder how many appointments are wasted because of it.

Obviously none of that is the fault of the staff but you can totally see why the it pisses people off - it makes absolutely no sense!

Ha, x-post @C8H10N4O2. I totally agree with you:

Yes. When the OP's FIL goes back to his GP to re-start the process of getting a blood test booked, the GP could just say "Bugger this - I'll take the bloods myself and we'll have the results by Friday". No forms to forget. No uncomfortable 2-hour round trip. No need for the OP to take time off work to take FIL to an blood centre miles away from where he lives. No risk of anything getting misunderstood..... otherwise known as Patient-centric healthcare.

Patient centred care is what we all strive for.
But…there is a lack of time and resources to make it happen sadly.
NHS staff aren’t purposefully obstructive but we genuinely do not have the means to be patient centred with absolutely everyone.

I totally get that it’s shit that he had a wasted journey and had to wait for another test but this is the reality of the NHS nowadays. I both work in it and am a patient and I too, get totally frustrated by the systems.

But please don’t blame the staff for not being patient centred. Because if we delivered care like that every day then there just wouldn’t be enough time and people would be moaning about waiting 2 hours for a blood test.

When do you think the GP has the time to do that? Imagine if every patient forgot their form and turned up at the GP needing it done?

There are just not the staff or resources.

I can’t believe you’ve never encountered this OP. It’s always the case that you need the form and always has been.

@QueenCremant but some places can manage it. I've had multiple blood tests recently and have always been able to get an appointment within 24 hours with a practise nurse.

No need to go to hospital, no bringing bits of paper, no need to travel or get help from a relative - my GP sends a request to reception and by the time I've walked from their office to the desk, they know what I need to book in and why.

When she was unwell and having a myriad of tests at a variety of hospitals because her local one didn't do the procedure she needed, she got into an utter pickle with a stack of letters that she had in an elastic banded wadge. It's not surprising someone so elderly was getting stressed and confused. When I saw it all I went and bought a folder with plastic sub-sections, filed everything in date and procedure order and wrote her a lost of key information and outstanding action points.

It beggars belief that the elderly are expected independently to orga kse all of this, especially when some it is technology driven and requires the use of IT. It took me about 20 minutes but I deal with complex information on a daily basis.

The NHS needs to do a lot more to facilitate the elderly and I am sure that would minimise delays and waste.

It's common sense and isn't rocket science.

In my experience that it is not the norm and is an amazing service.

My GP offered blood tests but it takes a while for an appointment. A lot of GP surgeries no longer offer them.

It isn't. I don't need the form. The GP sends a request via a portal to the hospital and I make an appointment digitally. My GP does not offer blood tests.

@QueenCremant it's so depressing that access to routine medical care is now seen as extraordinary.

It should be 100% normal to have same day access to a doctor and to be able to receive a basic blood tests at the same time (or at least, within a day or two). The fact that people are having to travel hours and visit hospitals is horrendous to me.

It's not, though, as several of us have said. Many practises do routine blood tests every single day without anyone needing to visit a hospital or bring a random piece of paper with them.

Last time I had bloods I had my results within five hours.

The GP could take them, if they had the skills to do so! It could be years since they've actually taken bloods.
Also you have no idea of the length of time it takes to do some peoples bloods, it can take ages to find a suitable vein! I have worked in clinics where 3 or 4 of us have had a go! Taken over an hour! Do you think that is a good use of a GP time?
If you were next to go in and your appointment was delayed by an hour all for the sake of taking blood, you'd be saying, why not go to a clinic!