"Damaged" Blood

[Charm]

Just thought I'd update you all on the wonderful NHS near me.

I had my bloods taken for Barts at exactly 16weeks (wed 13th Dec) and the midwife said, if you don't hear by monday then consider everything fine.

Well monday 18th Dec came and went and I told everyone I had the all clear and was on cloud 9.

Then on the Thurs 21st Dec I had a phone call (at home and they know that I work and they have my mobile number )
The message just said "Your bloods have been Damaged in Transit so can you contact the delivery suite to arrange another appointment".

How the hell can Blood get damaged in transit...more like some lazy git forgot to put it in the fridge and it got ruined.

So I rang on Fri 22nd and spoke to another MW as my usual one was on holiday and they said I need to make another appointment and go in between Xmas and New Year as the Lab is closed for Xmas break.

Bearing in mind that the blood has to be tested between 16-18 weeks or it can give false results.

So I spoke to my Husband and then rang them back to make an appointment and the only days they work is wed and thurs. The Wed 27th dec would be 18 weeks so it's then on not at all.
And I thought seeing as it's not my fault they'll get it sorted, spoke to some snotty receptionist at my Dr's surgery and was told that the MW has absolutely no appointments until January. I explained the situation but she was having none of it...Bloody great, thanks for the help

Anyhow I rang the delivery suite and asked to speak to another MW on my team (as mine was away) and I spoke to a WM that works at a different surgery and she said to pop in and see her on Wed 28th at 1.00pm.

So I did and the blood was taken again. I know it's not the midwifes fault, it's the Lab people or the transit people but it's so infuriating especially when it takes them a week to realise that they haven't tested it and I'm in my own little world thinking I have the all clear.

When I went for my first scan at 13w6d the sonographer wouldn't do the Nuchal scan as she said it was too late but my hospital wouldn't see me before this date

Wish I'd paid and had the Nuchal and bloods done private. I have my 20w scan next week but I think I'm going to book a private scan for a couple of weeks later as they've been useless so far.

Sorry, rant over just needed to get it off my chest

Cx

 

[kirlykird]

how annoying

 

[missac]

Thats ridiculous!! You would think with things like this they would get it right, and in the case that we are all human beings and mistakes do get made it is their job to move heaven and earth to rectify the mistake! If the blood was due to be tested by the 18th then someone was bound to know it had been damaged (or forgotten) and should have contacted you way before they did! Grrrrrrr NHS idiots!!!

 

[delmesgirl]

i'm really sorry to hear you've had such a stressful time but i feel i have to stick up for the NHS just a little bit

i used to work in a hospital lab and very occasionally, due to no-ones fault, samples do get broken in transit, and if this happens it is impossible to test it.

I agree that the receptionist was not particularly helpful, but she's only trying to do her job and if there's no appointments, there's no appointments.

A lot of people work very hard in the NHS for not a lot of money and resources are very stretched. Of course in an ideal world we would be seen straight away whenever we needed to be, but there just isn't the money in the nhs for that to happen. Where I live, you don't even get the option of a nuchal scan on the nhs and have to go private if you want one, but i accept that this is because there just isn't the money available to offer it for free.

Sorry for having a go, but this is not the first post complaining about the nhs that i've seen and it does make me cross that no-one seems to appreciate all the hard work that people do.

 

[Charm]

I wasn't complaining about the NHS in particular just my situation.

Apparantly I wasn't the only person this happened to, there was a quite a few women on the same day who's tests were "damaged" and the MW I spoke to said "It sounds like they've left them out of the fridge".
I am fully aware that accidents happen but to a lot of women on the same day
Sounds more like someone isn't doing there job properly than lack of resources.

So is it any wonder I'm annoyed, it's not so much the NHS, the nurses I've dealt with are all a credit to their job and they're fantastic.

 

[cloud9]

I am not suprised you are frustarated...I'd go for your 20 week scan and see how that goes before you make a descsion about a private one.

 

[missac]

i'm really sorry to hear you've had such a stressful time but i feel i have to stick up for the NHS just a little bit

i used to work in a hospital lab and very occasionally, due to no-ones fault, samples do get broken in transit, and if this happens it is impossible to test it.

I agree that the receptionist was not particularly helpful, but she's only trying to do her job and if there's no appointments, there's no appointments.

A lot of people work very hard in the NHS for not a lot of money and resources are very stretched. Of course in an ideal world we would be seen straight away whenever we needed to be, but there just isn't the money in the nhs for that to happen. Where I live, you don't even get the option of a nuchal scan on the nhs and have to go private if you want one, but i accept that this is because there just isn't the money available to offer it for free.

Sorry for having a go, but this is not the first post complaining about the nhs that i've seen and it does make me cross that no-one seems to appreciate all the hard work that people do.

I am assuming this is aimed at me, and if so I would like to point out that I said accidents do happen as we are all human but I feel that as it was not the fault of Charm the mw could have done more to rectify the situation. These tests are a stressful thing to have done and I know from having mine done that I was very wound up til I got the results, which is why when something goes wrong with them it just adds to the worry.

 

[Charm]

Missac

 

[missac]

Thanks Charm