A recurring theme in Richard's inbox and also in Facebook comments is the question of phlebotomy services, especially in the east of the constituency in Sandy, Biggleswade, Potton and surrounding areas.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Although the local GP practices offer some blood tests 'in house', and have indeed increased this provision in the past year or so, the reality is that a large number of patients still have to make the trip to either Bedford or Stevenage for a blood test. This is not only inconvenient but can also be expensive and time-consuming.
It is also the case that, notwithstanding the issues of travel times and costs, the blood test service in Bedford isn't ideal for many people as they are unable to offer evening and weekend appointments that some patients would find more convenient.
When I asked about the feasibility of introducing some 'out of hours' blood tests which would be particularly helpful for those who work full-time, the response from the CEO of Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust is sobering and is as follows:
“𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠.
𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 £3 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐵𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 (𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔) 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 £40. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝ℎ𝑙𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝐺𝑃𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑒𝑑𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝐼𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑠 35% 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 8𝑝𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑠 69% 𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 £3 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒.”
I believe that the answer is to explore the possibility of introducing a local solution through collaboration between the Integrated Care Board and all of the local GP practices.
To this end I have written to the key stakeholders concerned to set up a meeting to discuss potential options and see if a workable solution can be found.
I will keep you updated via my website, weekly email newsletter and my Facebook page.
