Phlebotomy service could return to Shrewsbury town centre

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) stopped the service in Princess House on April 26.

The contract with Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust to use a room within Princess House came to an end, due to what the hospital trust says are “unexpected costs”.

It was relocated to Elizabeth House based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, which already provides walk-in phlebotomy clinics.

SaTH is now looking for a new town centre premises in response to patients who used Princess House.

Phlebotomy is the process of making an incision in a vein with a needle. It comes from the Greek words phlebo, meaning "pertaining to a blood vessel", and tomia, meaning "cutting of".

Helen Harvey, pathology centre manager, told members of the Shropshire Council Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday, that she had viewed a number of town centre spaces.

She said: "We have been looking at places in the Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres. Patients were not in support of accessing the service in Pride Hill Shopping Centre because it was dark and access was not good.

"The Darwin Centre was not available for us to rent because of potential reconfiguration there. If we rented a space there, there it potential that our money could be lost if we were asked to relocate for work to be carried out."

Shropshire Council bought the Darwin and Pride Hill centres earlier this year and are currently deciding what to do with them in the future.

She added: "Last week we went to look at another venue that I hope will be suitable for patients. We will know more soon."

SaTH has been handing out surveys to patients using Elizabeth House to gage their preferences.

So far, 53.5 per cent of patients indicated they would like to see the service on the top floor of Princess House, while 33.5 per cent want to be able to have their blood taken at their own GP.

A further 16.8 per cent said they want it to return to another ground floor town centre location, 3.2 per cent said a nearby GP and 29 per cent said it should continue solely at Elizabeth House.

About 300 patients a week used the town centre phlebotomy service when it was running.