DHBs told of long wait for blood tests

Labtests says delays at their blood collection centres were caused in part by the company not knowing which centres patients would go to. Photo / Greg Bowker

Initial delays at Labtests' blood collection centres have been attributed in part to the company not knowing which centres patients would go to.

In a paper to Auckland's three district health boards on the change from Diagnostic Medlab (DML) to Labtests, Tim Wood, the boards' laboratory project manager, reports on waits of up to two hours in the first week, followed by waits of up to one hour at some centres at the start of week two, on August 17.

He lists several reasons, and measures by Labtests, the new holder of the contract with the DHBs for community laboratory testing, to reduce waiting times.

"With the significant change in the collection centre numbers and locations," Mr Wood said, "Labtests did not know where patients would attend collection centres, so some have higher patient attendances than expected."

Labtests had responded by improving staff rosters to better match demand.

Mr Wood's paper does not mention that the DHBs required a reduction in the number of collection centres compared with the more expensive service provided by DML.

He said processes at Labtests' collection centres were significantly different from those at other lab services.

"Staff have taken some time to get used to these new processes. Further support has been put in place to get staff up to speed with these processes as quickly as possible."

Mr Wood said that following the experience of the changeover from DML in the Counties Manukau health district, Labtests had modified its training programmes to minimise disruption when the Auckland district switched last Monday, and when Waitemata changes over next Monday.

"Labtests have a number of trainee phlebotomists in place who will be slower than experienced staff and who require supervision. Trainee staff will not be as effective until they get a reasonable level of experience."

Labtests' chief executive Ulf Lindskog, the company's sole authorised spokesman, was unavailable last night, but says in his most recent newsletter, written after Mr Wood's paper, that its collection centres in the Auckland health district "are working very well ... with patients experiencing a quick and efficient service".

Staffing and processes were reviewed each evening to ensure a quick response to any areas needing improvement, Mr Lindskog wrote.

"We know patients visiting our collection centres for the first time may see a waiting room full of people and expect a long wait time. However, because we have increased numbers of collection chairs at most centres, many patients are pleasantly surprised at how quickly our phlebotomists actually get to them."

Average patient waiting times at peak hours were 30 minutes in Counties Manukau and 20 minutes in Auckland.

Auckland DHB chairman Pat Snedden said of the change to Labtests, "I think the progress we are making is pretty much as we expected.

"It was going to be a transition that required a lot of attention to detail to minimise the risks. I think people are doing that."

When asked if the financial savings of the change were worth the upheaval, he said: "Time will tell ... I think the changes will be beneficial."