How COVID-19 has transformed blood tests in my area
Mark, transplant patient, UK
Booking blood tests pre-COVID
For transplant patients, it has always been a bit back to front at my unit – you’d go to your transplant clinic, be given your blood cards, and then have a review of your previous blood results with the consultant. After your appointment, you’d go and get your bloods done. You’d then be waiting nervously for 24 hours before the results went up on Patient View, or you had a phone call from one of your transplant nurses.
I don’t know how many patients are more proactive like me, but I always ask for my blood cards to be sent to me in advance of my appointment, and then arrange to go to a local walk-in centre so the bloods reviewed in the clinic are current.
I live about a mile from my walk-in centre – and I was often met with between a 30 – 90 minute wait before being seen. Whether you did it local to you, or whether you did it at the transplant clinic, there’d always be a wait.
There was often anything upwards of 30 / 40 people in the waiting room when you arrived – when COVID came along, they very quickly realised they had to make the blood centres by appointment only – for obvious reasons…
The learning curve
At the beginning of COVID, when they first switched to appointment only, there was a centralised number you had to ring. Trying to get through on the phone-line was ridiculous. If you didn’t get the engaged tone, it rang and rang, and then didn’t get answered. It was such a chore. I remember once trying for the best part of 3 hours and not getting through.
If you are lucky like me and work from home with an understanding employer, it’s not so much of an issue – I can just have it on redial in the background – but for those who work full time, and with less sympathetic employers, it could lead to a lot of distress. If you are working on a building site, or in a call centre, I can imagine your boss is going to be having some words with you! I have seen patients getting irate about how long they have had to wait and the amount of time they have to take off work. I really do worry about those patients and how they manage with their stress levels.
The transformation
…since you can book online blood-tests, it is so easy! It took me two minutes to go on, and there was a plethora of choices. It’s all been structured so there is a gap between patients. The three times I have had to go in, I arrived a couple of minutes before my appointment wearing my mask and there was no-one in the waiting room at all.
I came across it totally by accident on the Health Watch website – there’s a closed Facebook group for people who are shielding in my area. I was on that, and someone posted about how fed up they were about the time it was taking to book a blood test, so I responded in agreement. Then someone from Health Watch replied to us all, telling us they had been receiving a high number of complaints about it across the area, and that the appointment system was going to be coming online shortly. I then went on the Health Watch website and found a link to do it there.
I had no prior announcements of this (it’s not the fault of the renal team at all – the clinical lead (Dr K.T.) for transplantation at my Hospital is excellent, and the renal team have been amazing – I know how busy they are and the advice and information from them have been fantastic).
But since you can book online blood-tests, it is so easy! It took me two minutes to go on, and there were a plethora of choices. It’s all been structured so there is a gap between patients. The three times I have had to go in, I arrived a couple of minutes before my appointment wearing my mask and there was no-one in the waiting room at all. In two minutes, one of the phlebotomists came out and asked me my name/DOB and in I went. They ask you if you have had any COVID signs (they were obviously all wearing PPE), and once you are done and patched up, off you go. Faultless!
There is obviously the challenge that some people don’t have access to the internet, or don’t know how to use a computer – but the telephone lines are now freed up for those who really need to use them. If I have them done on a Friday, the latest they are on Patient View is the following Tuesday. I really can’t fault it. It is especially helpful for those patients who are working full-time.
…since you can book online blood-tests, it is so easy! It took me two minutes to go on, and there was a plethora of choices. It’s all been structured so there is a gap between patients. The three times I have had to go in, I arrived a couple of minutes before my appointment wearing my mask and there was no-one in the waiting room at all.
