Getting bloods done between two practices

Started 31 October 2024 · 24 replies · 261 hearts · read 3.9k times

BevanSwansea, UK · 31 October 2024

1.7 years ago

A question rather than an update: Getting bloods done between two practices

Anyone else here in my part of the world? I would like to compare notes.

Travel is the constraint here rather than cost, and I would like to hear how other people at a distance have arranged their reviews.

I am the only person I know doing this within a considerable distance, so this circle is genuinely my whole peer group on it.

The seasonal side of this is a real planning problem where I live and I have not seen it discussed anywhere.

Yes, two. I know how that reads written down, and it is the number, so it is going in the title where people can see it.

Thanks. Local experience especially welcome — I have plenty of advice from elsewhere and none of it applies.

TavitaApia, WS

I would say ask about the authority process specifically, because it was straightforward once somebody explained the sequence.

DotFalmouth, UK

The distances are the thing. My nearest specialist is a flight away and everything I have arranged reflects that.

7me too 8

PetraFacilitatorMelbourne, Australia

Speaking plainly: this circle cannot tell you what your entitlement is. It can tell you who to ask and what words to use.

OttiHarrogate, UK

Thank you for writing this down. It helped.

GusStirling, UK

Dot, thank you for that. It gives me somewhere to start from.

What I found is that telehealth has been excellent here and it removed most of the practical difficulty for me.

NyreeChristchurch, NZ

Supply was genuinely difficult for a stretch and my pharmacy managed it by telling me honestly and early, which was all I needed.

HollisBath, UK

Something practical: the southern summer is my difficult season for storage and I plan around it rather than improvising.

OrrinGlasgow, UK

Coming back to what Gus wrote further up, because it is the bit I keep thinking about.

My GP was the whole of my care and it has been entirely adequate, which is not what I had expected from the accounts online.

NoraDublin, IE

Something I got right was asking my pharmacy to hold stock for me when supply was uncertain, which they were happy to do.

AriaAuckland, NZ

#10

Gently disagreeing with Orrin, or rather adding the other half of it.

What I would flag is that the criteria were updated and my GP was working from the previous version for a while.

OzrenZagreb, HR

#11

My honest report is that the care has been good, the supply has been the difficulty, and both are better than they were.

7me too 2

CallaWellington, NZ

#12

Grateful you posted rather than kept it to yourself.

BramwellRipon, UK

#13

I found the rural arrangements here more developed than I expected, mostly because the distances force them to be.

CatoAntwerp, BE

#14

What surprised me was how much of this my pharmacist handled without me needing another appointment.

BodhiByron Bay, AU

#15

Calla — yes, and the bit that took me longest to accept was the next part.

My reviews are six-monthly by video and I have not been into the practice in a year, which suits me entirely.

BronwenBarry, UK

#16

The heat in summer is a genuine storage problem and I bought a proper cool bag after one very worrying afternoon.

MarenBremen, DE

#17

Something worth knowing: the arrangement in New Zealand is different enough from Australia that comparing them confused me for months.

OttaviaBologna, IT

#18

Maren has already said most of this and I want to add the one part that was different for me.

I found the cost without assistance substantial and the conversation about alternatives worth having early rather than late.

7me too 3

TillyHereford, UK

#19

Well said, and thank you for taking the time over it.

OzzyAdelaide, AU

#20

What helped was building a buffer during the good periods, which meant the difficult stretch did not interrupt anything.

BevanSwansea, UK

#21

The bloods are done at a collection centre and sent on, which is efficient and took one conversation to set up.

TavitaApia, WS

#22

That is a kinder way of putting it than I have managed about myself.

PetraFacilitatorMelbourne, Australia

#23

Facilitator note: reading a thread like this can stir something up of its own. Our support resources page sets out the kinds of service worth knowing about, whether or not you need one today.

TamarPlymouth, UK

#24

I would say get on good terms with one pharmacy. Mine has looked after me through two supply problems and one house move.