Patient's anger over hospital queues (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Patient's anger over hospital queues

10:00am Sunday 16th September 2012 in News

A CAMPAIGNING pensioner has launched a petition to reduce hospital waiting times after making six hospital visits to give a three-minute blood test.

Disabled Barbara Robinson, 73, of Great Clacton, waited more than two hours to give a blood sample to test for anaemia at Clacton Hospital on August 24.

She said queues stretched out of waiting room into the corridor and when the department closed at 2pm she had still not been seen, along with scores of other patients.

Mrs Robinson, who has had knee and hip replacements, said the story was the same when she tried again four days running. 

When she complained, staff said there was nothing they could do.

Mrs Robinson finally gave a blood sample on September 4 after a further three-hour wait.  Now she hopes to rally support from other disgruntled patients in a bid to cut waiting times.

“This has got to be sorted,” said Mrs Robinson. “I was furious about having to go six times and wait for hours on end."

A spokesman for the Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the clinic, said: “We apologise to Mrs Robinson for the delays she experienced at the phlebotomy clinic.
“We have experienced excessive demand, which has resulted in delays.
“In addition to employing agency staff to support current vacancies, we have drafted in additional staff to address the delays and crowding in the waiting area."