Blood test delays lead to cut in GP appointments

Some GPs say surgeries in Nottingham and the wider county have cut down appointments as they deal with computer problems impacting the delivery of blood test results.

Practices have complained of being "bombarded" with duplicate blood test results after new IT systems were introduced at hospital pathology labs in the city and county.

The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it had made some progress sorting out the difficulties and was continuing to liaise with doctors.

Dr Carter Singh, a GP at the Willowbrook Medical Practice in Sutton-in-Ashfield, said the problems receiving test results had created "extra stress and workload for doctors who are already stretched".

In the first week since the new information technology systems at pathology labs went live, there have been a series of problems reporting blood test results to GP practices.

The computer software needed updating because the old software used at the pathology labs based at the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital and King's Mill Hospital in Ashfield was no longer supported.

This is not the first time there have been issues around information technology used for blood tests. In September 2024, Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust declared a critical incident because of computer problems.

Dr Singh said one of the biggest problems had been working out what results had been sent to GPs electronically from the labs.

He said: "Rather than one test result coming through, we have been dealing with duplicated results and others sometimes sent four or five times, [that are] exactly the same results.

"It takes a lot of effort and energy to file and navigate and it means less time for patients."

The Nottinghamshire Local Medical Committee (LMC), which represents local GPs, stressed it is continuing to work to resolve problems.

Michael Wright, the LMC chief executive, said: "It is frustrating that practices were reassured the new system would work … it is causing so many problems."

He understood the testing of the system was made on "dummy patients" - and only when it went live for real patients did problems emerge.

He said one GP was starting work early at 4.30am to get on top of the difficulties ahead of seeing patients, a situation Mr Wright concluded is "clearly unsustainable".

He added some practices had declared a "black alert" status, meaning they were struggling to maintain their normal levels of service.

Mr Wright said he was not aware that patient safety had so far been compromised but concluded "the time needed to deal with these issues has to come from somewhere".

He understood some surgeries have been forced to reduce the number of appointments offered as they grapple with computer problems and, if issues persist, that may have to continue.

In a statement, Caroline Goulding, director of Primary Care at NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said: "We have experienced some issues following the launch of new IT systems in the pathology departments at Nottingham University Hospitals and Sherwood Forest Hospitals on 30 June.

"This has been impacting the way blood test results are reported to GP practices. Whilst this has not affected the accuracy and quality of the tests, it has, regrettably, led to practices requiring extra time to process and study those results due to the way they have been provided.

"The ICB and hospital leaders have been working with GP representatives to work through these problems at speed and significant progress has been made.

"The new IT systems were required to replace an old system which was no longer being supported by the supplier and, as with many projects of this size and complexity, this can sometimes lead to some short-term disruption.

"We are sorry for the significant impact this has had on our GP practices and are grateful for their continued hard work and support during this."

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