It's that time of year again - time for my Annual Vascular Review at my GP's Leicestershire-based surgery.
At least once a week I attend the Hambleton Suite at Leicester Royal Infirmary where I have my observations and weight recorded, then I have blood samples taken from my Hickman Line for a full suite of tests, then the line is dressed, then I attend a session with the Senior Specialist Dietitian, then I attend a review with one of the Consultant Haematologists. What they don't know about my body and blood isn't worth knowing.
You'd think that I'd not need to give yet more blood samples to the GP's phlebotomist in order for the Vascular Nurses to have something to work with, but it's not so. They have to take separate samples so that they can send them to their preferred test facility over the county line in Coventry, Warwickshire. That's because the Vascular Nurses' system can't access my Leicestershire hospital records.
Because of this, I have to take up an unnecessary appointment slot to provide unnecessary blood samples for a suite of unnecessary tests. Furthermore, I have to have at least one unnecessary hole in the arm because the GP's phlebotomist is not allowed to take blood samples from my Hickman Line.
I really don't get why there's such a communications block. It's a farce.
By contrast, I also have to attend monthly sessions with the Community Heart Failure Specialist Nurse at Hinckley Health Centre - when she wanted to take bloods for tests I told her that weekly tests were ongoing at the Leicester Royal, and she was able to access their results online within seconds, thus saving time, money, test resources and arm-holes.
So go figure why the NHS is cash-strapped.
