Blood Specimen Collection Supply Issue

Please see below a message from NHS England 

Becton Dickinson has alerted us to a shortage of products from their Blood Specimen Collection Portfolio that is impacting across most main blood tube supplies. 

The supply position remains constrained and is forecasted to become even more constrained over the coming weeks. While it is anticipated that the position will improve from the middle of September, overall supply is likely to remain challenging for a significant period.

The following measures should be applied across the NHS in England, all commissioned services and by independent providers of NHS services in England, regardless of which blood tube products they use. We have worked with several partner organisations in the development of these guidelines. It is important to reiterate that enacting these measures must be in line with senior clinical decision making and only where safe to do so.

 Primary Care and Community Care

All primary care and community testing must be halted until 17 September 2021, except for clinically urgent testing. Examples of clinically urgent testing include:

  Bloods that are required to facilitate a two week wait referral.

Bloods that are extremely overdue and/or essential for safe prescribing of medication or monitoring of condition.

Bloods that if taken could avoid a hospital Admission or prevent an onward referral.  

Those with suspected sepsis or conditions with a risk of death or disability. 

We appreciate that this temporary position is challenging and wish to thank you for your efforts in managing this issue and for your continued collaboration across local, regional, and national networks.

Due to the supply issue and guidance from NHS England Stubbington Medical Practice are deferring routine blood test for 3 months. If you have a blood test booked with the practice which isn’t clinically urgent, we will contact you to cancel the appointment. If you do not hear from us, please still come to the blood test appointment. Please do not contact the practice to request or book routine blood test. 

Thank you for your understanding and patience

To all our Patients

We are aware of the planned move to lifting the remaining Covid restrictions in England from the 19th of July.

 Medical settings are a higher risk environment and will need to be subject to more control measures than other public facilities.

 We are acting very cautiously and are maintaining:

   Social distancing

Face coverings

PPE for healthcare staff

 The delta variant is more transmissible, and patients may come to the surgery when they are contagious.

 It is our duty to do all we can to keep both our patients and our staff safe whilst we deliver our care.

 Thank you

Dr Hopkins and Partners

How can you help?

Please be patient – our phone lines are very busy, especially between 8am and 11am.

Do you have a condition that you can treat at home? If you do then please try to do this with advice from NHS online or your local pharmacist.

Do you simply need general advice? If you do, you can call 111 for this or submit an eConsult.

If you think you may have Covid-19 DO NOT go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Use the NHS111 Online service to find out what to do next: 111.nhs.uk/covid-19.

If you feel you need to see a doctor for non-Covid-19 symptoms then please call 01329 664231 and we will discuss your needs.

Please help the receptionist by giving them as much information as possible and answer any questions they may have. This will help us prioritise calls and have the right Clinician call you back.

You can email the practice at: 
fgccg.stubbington-admin@nhs.net    
(Please do not use this to request appointments - these must be made by calling reception on 01329 664231)

Please check our website and Facebook page (Stubbington Medical Practice) regularly for updates.

We do anticipate some staff shortages due to isolation and sickness and aim to continue to give you the best possible care at this difficult time. We appreciate your continued support.

We ask that you please treat our staff with courtesy and respect - thank you for your understanding and co-operation during these challenging times.