Difficulties booking a blood test
You told us that is was really difficult to book a blood test and were left waiting in a call line queue for a long time while paying to call an 01 number. We contacted the service and explained the problems.
The manager told us that they had to implement a process rapidly to protect patients during the pandemic and they do not have the ability to offer a free or local rate call number. There is a high demand for this call line, on average they are taking between 500 – 550 calls per day and it is particularly busy between 9 - 11am. It is suggested that patients should try outside of these hours when hopefully they should get through quicker. We are told that as the service develops there is a plan to look at a self-booking system to easy the pressure on the call line.
