Competance of 'engineers' - Smart Meters

[polygonum]

It isn't the wait that is the problem for me. (It would just be a boring inconvenience.) For quite a number of blood tests, time matters.

Our local hospital phlebotomy opens at 08:00 which, with luck, means a draw just early enough. The GP appointments don't even start before 09:00.

Time wouldn't be quite such an issue if the medics even realised the importance of time of draw. They don't. So they don't, actually can't, make any allowance. Diagnosis, adjustments to medication, etc., can all be affected because of this desperate ignorance. (Yes - there is recognition of time for some tests.) Nor do they recognise that far more tests are affected by fasting/not fasting than is ever acknowledged.

[alan_m]

[Dave Liquorice]

Quite I'd much rather have bloods taken by someone who is doing it many times a day than some one who only does it occasionally. The Practice Nurse takes bloods at our GP's, prefereably in the morning so they leave on the transport around midday to reach the lab that day.

If we had to be referred to a hospital with a lab, that would be a 50 to 70 mile round and 3 hours or so depending on the which hospital and assuming use of own transport. Public transport would take most of the day *and* require the appointment to be late morning/early afternoon.

[damduck-egg]

Not so easy to change for many people who don't live in a densely populated area . Ours had a phlebotomist but withdrew her in her a cost cutting exercise. They quickly did a partial reverse after protests that older people in area without public transport were already relying on Family, Friends,Volunteers to get them to the surgery let alone the hospital about 15 miles away and employed one part time . Tests were then done on if you really can't make it to the Hospital then we may fit you in here basis. Since then they have relented further and the service is available 5 mornings a week, all of Wednesday,and a monthly Saturday Morning,

G,Harman

[tim...]

all of my local hospitals run a turn up and wait system for taking bloods

only the GPs require you to make a specific appointment

tim

[tim...]

My GP (receptionists) insist that if you have a fasting requirement you*must* have your appointment before 9:30.

Why is it that I cannot be trusted to fast until 10:30 if I am told that I have to? (Bearing in mind all the other things that they have to trust that I do, or not, they they have no checks for)

tim

[dennis]

Bloody hell that's a waste. Our GP had a couple of receptionists trained to take blood.

Not that I use them as I go to the clinic that does blood from 07:00.

[dennis]

Its nothing to do with trust. How many suffer ill effects from fasting too long?

I get mine done at ~07:00 if its fasting.

[tim...]

If I'm on a travelling holiday I regularly go until the afternoon before eating

If I don't, I spend half of the day looking for a toilet to use, like *now*

In some countries it isn't easy to find a clean usable toilet, so I try to avoid the problem

tim

[polygonum]

The impact of eating and drinking (other than water) on some tests has been missed for decades. Doctors are hardly going to put themselves out to make early drawing available if they don't know of the impact it has. (Both in terms of making fasting easier and ensuring that the actual time is early enough.)

[polygonum]

A number of years ago it was noticed that the GP/surgery contracts included a component for providing phlebotomy services - but most surgeries didn't provide the service. After that, our surgery started doing some phlebotomy but in such a half-hearted way it is probably best to avoid. You simply can't get, for example, a GP appointment and blood draw such that you can do both in one visit. Further, a number of tests require special handling and might need to be done at a hospital.

[Simo]

I don't eat anything during the day even when not travelling.

I don't drink anything for breakfast anymore and still have a piss during the day unless I am tearing around in very hot weather.

I'm not fussy about what they are like when I want somewhere to piss.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I have a recollection of Transco refusing to get their staff registered (CORGI at the time), arguing it wasn't appropriate training for supply side work. Government had no choice but to give in, as it would otherwise leave no staff in the country able to undertake any gas supply work, including emergency fixes, from the date registration became mandatory.