Blood test delays reach ‘breaking point’ -as patients across North Northamptonshire continue to face waits

The Northants Telegraph reported on the problem earlier this year, when the online booking system was upgraded to respond to an increased demand for the service.

Currently all patients are being encouraged to use the 24/7 online system to book, cancel and reschedule both adult and children’s blood test appointments at all four of KGH’S pathology department locations; Wellingborough’s Isebrook, Kettering’s North Northants Council Bowling Green Road offices, Corby Diagnostic Centre and Nene Park outpatients.

Two-months on however, frustrations remain over the difficulty to access appointments using the online system.

Emma Holden tried to book a blood test for her son at Nene Park but she said the online system wouldn’t allow her to.

Ms Holden had to spend four days trying to book over the phone. “It took me several days for being on hold for over 30 mins to get through. I did eventually but it wasn’t easy,” she said.

Trace Lawson was told that she needed a full blood test on April 1. When she tried to book, she was faced with a five week wait.

“The nearest blood test was the May 8 and I’d have to travel to Nene Park from Kettering,” Ms Lawson said.

“They only do blood tests during the hours I work. There are no appointments before or after work, or at the weekends. As a child minder, I don’t get breaks, so I couldn’t even nip along on my lunch break to get a blood test.”

Appointment availability at all four of the clinics vary. Some slots show appointments for the following day, whilst other centres only have dates in June.

Hannah Lois Farrance’s husband had a heart attack in March and was required to have two follow-up blood tests.

Despite needing the blood tests to be done on specific days, they only managed to book one appointment online.

“We tried and tried to get an appointment for the first test to be done but were very unsuccessful so it never got done,” she said.

Mrs Farrance said that when hospitals require blood tests to be completed, they should be automatically booked in with the GP.

“The system needs to change as there are so many people trying to book blood tests and they are unable to do it. It is also against older people that can’t get online or that don’t family to be able to help them,” Mrs Farrance said.

A former member of staff at KGH spoke to Northants Telegraph about the issue, which they said had reached ‘breaking point’. They raised concerns over the high volume of tests and the lack of staff available to process them.

A spokesperson for Kettering General Hospital said: “We continue to see unusually high demand for our phlebotomy service leading to longer waiting times than normal for appointments and we apologise for this.

“Our telephone booking lines remain extremely busy, and the team are doing what they can to answer as many calls as possible. Please keep checking the online booking system frequently as appointment can become available at any time. We apologise that we are currently not able to meet demand for the service in a timely way but we are working to address the issue.”