blood test?

Leilak

i was due to get routine blood tests done a couple of days before cyber attack, fast forward 6 weeks and its worrying to discover things are still not back to normal. Im worried in case something might be missed by not getting it and im frustrated that our government still havent sorted this problem out. However my question right now is where can i get bloods done in west dublin area ?

0lddog

Leilak wrote: »

i was due to get routine blood tests done a couple of days before cyber attack, fast forward 6 weeks and its worrying to discover things are still not back to normal. Im worried in case something might be missed by not getting it and im frustrated that our government still haven't sorted this problem out. However my question right now is where can i get bloods done in west dublin area ?

Where used you to go for this ?

Connolly Hospital seems to be doing out patient bloods at present.
Looks like if you want to go there for GP bloods then its about 10 days away. ( I guess they paused these during COVID ).

Hospital local to me ( not Connolly ) had some disruption to bloods due to COVID not due to cyber attack.


Ref : https://www.swiftqueue.com/index.php

Dempo1

sugarman wrote: »

Your GP will still be able to take & send off bloods. Ours has been able to anyway.

Sadly no, this is not my experience. I also require regular blood tests, My excellent GP has been unable to do bloods for weeks now, essentially she's been told by the HSE and lab, bloods can not be sent for analysis. I had my regular Endocrinologist Telephone consultation just yesterday, he started the consult by apologising for the bloods situation, he requires them so has arranged emergency blood tests by way of letter and I'm going to his hospital next week to get them done. I should state I looked at alternatives to be prepared to no avail and normally my GP would happily do bloods in advance of endo consultation.

Just as an aside, I was in for an MRI three weeks ago, in house blood tests taking up to seven hours and I've had to make numerous calls to get MRI results due to cyber attack, getting them by way of telephone consult next week (hopefully), worth also mentioning, MRI Done on behalf of HSE by private company within hospital, but I was told only emergency scans being done in hospitals up to this week.

I'm not saying this is the general situation but I've spoken to a few people locally with the same bloods issues.

Dempo1

0lddog wrote: »

Where used you to go for this ?

Connolly Hospital seems to be doing out patient bloods at present.
Looks like if you want to go there for GP bloods then its about 10 days away. ( I guess they paused these during COVID ).

Hospital local to me ( not Connolly ) had some disruption to bloods due to COVID not due to cyber attack.


Ref : https://www.swiftqueue.com/index.php

My own GP continued doing bloods throughout the entire pandemic period, the Cyber attack is what's affected my own.

Dempo1

Leilak wrote: »

i was due to get routine blood tests done a couple of days before cyber attack, fast forward 6 weeks and its worrying to discover things are still not back to normal. Im worried in case something might be missed by not getting it and im frustrated that our government still havent sorted this problem out. However my question right now is where can i get bloods done in west dublin area ?

I hear you and its one of many things not being reported widely. You've not mentioned when you got last bloods but I wouldn't worry too much, I'm no medical expert but few weeks shouldn't make a big difference albeit this would depend on specific illnesses . I don't think it's possible to just arrange bloods privately (Open to correction), in my own situation, listed above, it just happened I had my telephone consult and Endocrinologist ordered emergency bloods for me so I'll make my way to his hospital next week to get them done. But my GP still restricted from doing bloods uptil yesterday.

I'm sure the issue will be resolved very soon as its getting priority.

Martina1991

This was the memo Dr Colm Henry sent to all GPs.

https://twitter.com/pdog1974/status/1394215193266331653?s=19

This was another memo
https://twitter.com/pdog1974/status/1394215428323520512?s=19

The advice is still the same.

It's not a question of trying to find a GP that's taking blood samples. It's up to your doctor to make direct contact with the laboratory they send their samples to, in order for them to process them. If it is not an urgent matter, you will have to wait unfortunately.

0lddog

Martina1991 wrote: »

...It's not a question of trying to find a GP that's taking blood samples...

So, the hospitals that are doing / accepting appts to do GP bloods ( Connolly, Vincents etc ) maybe are using their own labs and dont need to send samples out ?

Sleeper12

sugarman wrote:

Your GP will still be able to take & send off bloods. Ours has been able to anyway.

I agree.
Only talking to a friend who had bloods done in his GPS a few days ago and he had a call last night with the news that his blood sugar is through the roof. His bloods would have been processed in Beaumont Hospital

Martina1991

0lddog wrote: »

So, the hospitals that are doing / accepting appts to do GP bloods ( Connolly, Vincents etc ) maybe are using their own labs and dont need to send samples out ?

Yes they'd be processing them in house.

But it's not a matter of hospitals letting GPs request any and all blood tests yet. It still depends on the urgency and what tests have been requested.

0lddog

Martina1991 wrote: »

...But it's not a matter of hospitals letting GPs request any and all blood tests yet. It still depends on the urgency and what tests have been requested.

OK,
I see,
Now wondering if GP reckoned I have an urgent need when she put a test chit with more or less every box ticked into my paw and sent me off to the nearby large teaching hospital this week

Martina1991

0lddog wrote: »

OK,
I see,
Now wondering if GP reckoned I have an urgent need when she put a test chit with more or less every box ticked into my paw and sent me off to the nearby large teaching hospital this week

It doesn't sound urgent if your gp ticked a load of boxes. That sounds like routine testing. Which shouldn't really be requested yet.


In our hospital GPs were asked not to even take bloods if they're not urgent as per the memo, but some just take them anyway.

We sent those requests out to a private hospital in Dublin.
This takes longer and only one hard copy goes back to the gp. That means no electronic record for them to look up and we had no access to them ourselves.
This is not a good idea as results can go back to the wrong practice, human errors can occur if handwriting is illegible or the request form wasn't filled out properly. The gp just assumes they were processed in house, despite being told that they wouldn't be and not to take them.

Dempo1

Martina1991 wrote: »

It doesn't sound urgent if your gp ticked a load of boxes. That sounds like routine testing. Which shouldn't really be requested yet.


In our hospital GPs were asked not to even take bloods if they're not urgent as per the memo, but some just take them anyway.

We sent those requests out to a private hospital in Dublin.
This takes longer and only one hard copy goes back to the gp. That means no electronic record for them to look up and we had no access to them ourselves.
This is not a good idea as results can go back to the wrong practice, human errors can occur if handwriting is illegible or the request form wasn't filled out properly. The gp just assumes they were processed in house, despite being told that they wouldn't be and not to take them.

Yes agreed, Routine Bloods are not being requested by Gp"s as per the memo from Colm Henry.

Just an update, clarification. I was with my GP yesterday, getting 2nd Dose Pfizer vacinne. As explained, she couldn't do my bloods as normal for a condition I have, even though I was due my regular Endo consult, based on some heightened symptoms, my Endocrinologist has requested bloods be done and this will happen at his location hospital where his clinic is, next week. I mentioned this to GP and she said she is still not doing any blood work, urgent or otherwise and directing any patients with a known illness to the hospital they attend as part of their treatment for any blood work required . I'm only mentioning what I was told, directly by a long established and large practice GP surgery. As I've mentioned, it was never an issue until the cyber attack, even at the height of the Pandemic.

Martina1991

Dempo1 wrote: »

Just an update, clarification. I was with my GP yesterday, getting 2nd Dose Pfizer vacinne. As explained, she couldn't do my bloods as normal for a condition I have, even though I was due my regular Endo consult, based on some heightened symptoms, my Endocrinologist has requested bloods be done and this will happen at his location hospital where his clinic is, next week. I mentioned this to GP and she said she is still not doing any blood work, urgent or otherwise and directing any patients with a known illness to the hospital they attend as part of their treatment for any blood work required . I'm only mentioning what I was told, directly by a long established and large practice GP surgery. As I've mentioned, it was never an issue until the cyber attack, even at the height of the Pandemic.

Yes, your gp is right for being compliant.

Clinics and outpatient blood tests are permitted only since this week and will be prioritised over GPs. So anyone who feels like they need their regular scheduled blood work done should contact their consultant to arrange it.

Laboratories never had their services interrupted during covid. All services were available if needed. It was GPs that stopped taking routine bloods because they were so busy with covid.

The cyber attack has effected blood tests because the laboratories physically cannot process the workload with no IT.

apache

Just reading this now. Was going to ring my GP to organise blood tests but will hold off as I see people saying emergencies only.

markmoto

apache wrote: »

Just reading this now. Was going to ring my GP to organise blood tests but will hold off as I see people saying emergencies only.

For some hospitals only. GP can refer to another one.

Dempo1

markmoto wrote: »

For some hospitals only. GP can refer to another one.

Not so, Gp"s as a rule or not doing routine blood tests, it's not that they are refusing, they have been instructed not to send bloods for testing to lab's. I've explained my own example above. I can confirm my consultant endocrinologist had to order bloods at his hospital, which I got done yesterday. Normally my GP does them routinely but for the time being she can't.

Obviously there are exceptional circumstances for emergencies. Mine was not but are required regularly due to a specific illness that needs reviewing regularly.

Dempo1

apache wrote: »

Just reading this now. Was going to ring my GP to organise blood tests but will hold off as I see people saying emergencies only.

If you have an underlying condition already being managed by a clinic or consultant and bloods required, they can request them on your behalf but it will be attending hospital were bloods will be taken, not your GP for tge time being.

apache

Dempo1 wrote: »

If you have an underlying condition already being managed by a clinic or consultant and bloods required, they can request them on your behalf but it will be attending hospital were bloods will be taken, not your GP for tge time being.

Thanks for the information Dempo

Dempo1

apache wrote: »

Thanks for the information Dempo

No problem at all, it's a worrying time for those who need bloods done but there are options, I just wanted to share my own experience and advise appropriately, hopefully the labs issue affected by the cyber attack will be sorted soon, Good Luck

markmoto

Dempo1 wrote: »

Not so, Gp"s as a rule or not doing routine blood tests, it's not that they are refusing, they have been instructed not to send bloods for testing to lab's. I've explained my own example above. I can confirm my consultant endocrinologist had to order bloods at his hospital, which I got done yesterday. Normally my GP does them routinely but for the time being she can't.

Obviously there are exceptional circumstances for emergencies. Mine was not but are required regularly due to a specific illness that needs reviewing regularly.

What I mean GP can refer you to hospital for blood test.

Dempo1

markmoto wrote: »

What I mean GP can refer you to hospital for blood test.

My apologies, I misunderstood. I wanted just to clarify GPs themselves are restricted at the moment. All I would say, in the example you mention correctly, a referral could infact take quite some time unless of course an emergency. In my own case It was partly timing for regular telephone consult and my endocrinologist was able to request bloods almost immediately, so for those like myself already attending a clinic as such and not an emergency but routine can avail of this route. But I take your point, apologies again

apache

Well I was talking to a friend today who got it done by their GP. The results take longer to come back. I must ring up and ask anyway.

Dempo1

apache wrote: »

Well I was talking to a friend today who got it done by their GP. The results take longer to come back. I must ring up and ask anyway.

Yes, worth a try services are returning slowly, I think it might depend on what lab etc your GP uses, hopefully you'll get sorted

triona1

I got bloods done in my gp surgery this morning.

inisfree0504

Anyone know if they are doing 'routine' again? I was supposed to get a liver function test due to a medication I am on the week of the cyber attack (which I'm quite surprised is not considered essential). Apparently the GP will contact me when they're doing them again so I don't want to hound them, but a relative got theirs done last week so I'm a bit confused.

Ms2011

I got my bloods done by my GP a few weeks ago, when I went for my routine appointment with my consultant 2 weeks ago he couldn't pull the results up on his computer, then he tried calling on the phone but after being on hold for awhile hung up.
I'm on immunosuppressants medication so blood test results are pretty important but my consultant couldn't access them for my appointment

Dempo1

inisfree0504 wrote: »

Anyone know if they are doing 'routine' again? I was supposed to get a liver function test due to a medication I am on the week of the cyber attack (which I'm quite surprised is not considered essential). Apparently the GP will contact me when they're doing them again so I don't want to hound them, but a relative got theirs done last week so I'm a bit confused.

I think things returning to some normality, there seems to be issues with consultants accessing results however. I had to go to my consultants location hospital two weeks ago for routine bloods, normally done by GP, it's two weeks an results still not accessible.

blackbird86

I had routine bloods done last week after the GP wasn't able to do them a few weeks back during the cyber attack. All back to normal in my GP anyway

Martina1991

inisfree0504 wrote: »

Anyone know if they are doing 'routine' again? I was supposed to get a liver function test due to a medication I am on the week of the cyber attack (which I'm quite surprised is not considered essential). Apparently the GP will contact me when they're doing them again so I don't want to hound them, but a relative got theirs done last week so I'm a bit confused.

It depends on the hospital.
Some are fully back to normal. Some are doing a limited repertoire of tests.

LFTs are fairly routine so it shouldn't be a problem. They might have forgot to contact you.