Delay and inadequacy of service
I spent an excruciatingly painful 5 hours in A&E Chorley Hospital waiting for suspected vertebral fractures to be X-rayed. At the same time, people were waiting simply to be given appointments for the blood clinic. All became clear when, on another occasion, I attended the blood clinic, with the form and envelope from my G.P.. I waited a long time although there were only 3 people waiting in the clinic while two phlebotomists chatted and laughed in the two rooms. When my ticket number came up and I presented my form, I was turned away. "You have to take this to A&E to get an appointment for this clinic." I protested that I had always come here for blood tests, only to be told that it had changed and they would do only requests from consultants , not G.P.s This is an outrageous waste of time and resources, insulting to patients and staff alike. To have a large, empty waiting room, with twp phlebotomists having nothing to do, while patients clutter up A&E, despite the fact that they have already seen a doctor and have the necessary form, is bad management. The blood taken is the same blood, goes to the same lab and uses the same forms but only after sending the unfortunate patients on a tour of the hospital, cluttering up A&E and wasting time for everyone concerned. The former practice needs to be reinstated without delay. Patients need to be able to drop into the hospital at times convenient for them and phlebotomist need to be doing their jobs, taking blood according to what is requested on the forms, not be distracted by deciding which patients they will attend and which they will not. How much time to they waste directing patients to another part of the hospital. By the time they had told me, they could have had the blood out of my arm and in the envelope provided. The system presently in place means that they are dealing with G.P. patients TWICE.