Horrible NHS child blood test booking treatment !

[whatah]

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this. But I’m really surprised about what happened and quite sad about it.

no one wants their child to have a blood test- let alone an urgent one. So it’s already a distressing situation. My little one had a routine blood test booked for in a few weeks time, but after some more symptoms and another chat with the GP, the GP agreed to put in an urgent request.

so I called the blood test line at the hospital and explained. They were immediately hostile and didn’t even check the details and just said that it’s a 6 weeks wait and they don’t take urgent bookings. That I should go back to the GP and ask them where I need to go.

so I went through the trouble of filling the form in again and also calling ( the receptionist was also stand offish ). Anyway then finally this morning I get a text saying ‘ an urgent test was requested ‘.

so I call the blood test line again and it’s the same person, again being rude. I explain I’ve been to the GP and they said it’s been requested so could they just look if they can see it. They tell me that they can’t access the information. Anyway I did end up crying a little and just saying I am doing what I can. How can I get this blood test ? We saw the GP who escalated it and now I’m calling you and you’re telling me you can’t help me or see any escalation.

at this point another operator comes on and asks if I have any proof it’s actually urgent. To which I say yes I have a text. So they ask me to send them the proof. The lady is really nice and says that the reason they didn’t help me before is because people always say it’s urgent ! I can’t believe it.

I told them the whole thing, that initially it wasn’t urgent but that the doctor agrees we should make it urgent now after another look at the child yesterday.

has this happened to anyone else ? I found it really unfair. They didn’t listen and just tried to fob me off.

as if I actually want an urgent blood test. I wish we didn’t have to have one at all and it’s upsetting enough as it is. Where is the humanity ?

I’m not saying it’s right but people DO ring up places and say things are urgent when they are.

Well, what's wrong with that? 😕

I meant aren’t urgent sorry. It’s been a long day already.

Sounds like a clerical error. They happen a lot in the NHS

Is it normal for HCPs to assume patients are liars?

Lousy system. GP should have sent through paperwork or something so that it can be organised easily. Possibly feed back to the GP surgery about how bad the system is!
Our GP surgery always does children's blood tests.
If I have to have blood tests as an adult I get a form printed to take to a local wait and be seen blood centre. Drive through type one.
Booking in at my local hospital does take weeks of waiting.....
Glad it was sorted in the end.

The lady is really nice and says that the reason they didn’t help me before is because people always say it’s urgent ! I can’t believe it.

Sadly I can.

They needed proof that it was urgent as they couldn't take your word for it for this reason.

Sounds painful. Ours is really easy online phlebotomy booking system.

OP, you should make a PALS complaint because yes they will get a lot of calls to say something is urgent when it isnt, but it's up to them to investigate which are actually urgent. They categorically shouldn't be just saying no, because they will inevitably end up missing an urgent blood test. The clerical/admin staff hete are being completely inappropriate, they're working outside of their scope - please make a complaint via PALS otherwise nothing will change.

I say this as a healthcare worker.

But they didn’t tell me that. They should have been clear about it. They didn’t even ask for the name or details. Just fobbed off. Disgusting.

they only told me this at the end. Once I had given proof. If they had said from the beginning - did your GP give you a form or a letter or anything to give us ? But they didn’t. They just said ‘ go back to GP as we don’t do urgent tests here ‘. ‘ ask your GP where you need to go ‘.

Please don't get upset about a blood test. For children they numb the area first so the child doesn't feel anything at all. My children really enjoyed it!

But maybe they dont do urgent tests as standard? Im sure they get lots of people say its urgent as everyone wants their kid seen asap

Im not upset about the test in that way. Just hoping results will be good.

This happens all the time. Back in the day when we had paper forms a female patient came for a blood test. Every single box was ticked. When we called the Dr to clarify if she needed her prostate bloods checked they chuckled and said she had ticked the other boxes herself. He was looking forward to delivering her those results 😂