Bloody good Spalding team is praised

Staff at Johnson Community Hospital in Spalding have been recognised for drastically reduce waiting times for blood tests.

The blood clinic run by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) sees an average of 60 more patients per day, compared to 2018.
In 2018 35,198 blood tests were performed and in 2019 this number increased to 44,799.

Three main improvements were made following feedback from patients and staff ideas.

These were the relocation of the phlebotomy room to a larger space with a comfortable patient waiting area, the introduction of a drop-in service alongside the existing appointments system and an increase in the length of opening times for the appointments booking line.

Since February 2019, patients can drop-in to the outpatients department for a blood test any time between 8am-12.30pm, Monday to Friday which is a 90 per cent reduction in waiting time.

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust also say feedback for the improved service has been very positive.

Sally Brown, Clinical Team Lead for the Outpatient Department said: “Since the introduction of the drop-in clinic, the phlebotomy service has grown dramatically.

“I’m delighted that we are now offering a faster, more efficient service to the patients of South Holland, as we continue to perform more blood tests every month.”

The improvements in the blood test service and hard work of the staff were recognised at two award ceremonies last year. Johnson Community Hospital phlebotomy staff achieved runner up in the Clinical Team of the Year categories at both LCHS’ staff awards and at the Lincolnshire Healthcare Awards.