NHS UK cuts back on blood tests

Peter03

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I blame Brexit.;)
No problem with blood tests here in France, Hope things improve in the UK soon but I don't think it has anything to do with brexit not that I would know as brexit does not affect us Europeans
 

Mr_Pot

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No problem with blood tests here in France, Hope things improve in the UK soon but I don't think it has anything to do with brexit not that I would know as brexit does not affect us Europeans
The problem is short supply of the vials that they collect the blood in. This is due to extra demand and the transport problems we have in the UK. There are not enough lorry drivers and this is partly a consequence of Brexit preventing foreign drivers working in the UK.
 

zand

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The problem is short supply of the vials that they collect the blood in. This is due to extra demand and the transport problems we have in the UK. There are not enough lorry drivers and this is partly a consequence of Brexit preventing foreign drivers working in the UK.
That's democracy for you. It's what 52% of voters wanted.
 

TriciaWs

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That's democracy for you. It's what 52% of voters wanted.
Not quite, apart from the 18m without a vote in the referendum ( including people who either live here but weren't permitted to vote or UK citizens who live abroad but weren't permitted to vote), there were 12m voters who didn't vote and a small % of spoiled votes.

However, back on topic the shortage of the specialised tubes needed for tests is partly due to covid issues but more down to brexit rules.
 

Peter03

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I will find out this week as I have to have some blood tests done this week, last week there were no problems here in France, I will not be pleased if there is a shortage here but the pharmacy has not herd of any shortages so its either a well kept secret or there are not any here
 

EllieM

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Well, if they are going to be unable to do a whole load of hba1c tests for T2s and prediabetics, maybe it's time for the affected people to argue that they need NHS funded blood testing strips....

(Let's go for the glass half full, there's always a silver lining attitude. :))
 

Riva_Roxaban

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All good here in Australia as well, the pathology lab I get tested at here have no problems with supplies of the various vials needed.

A year or so back the federal government stopped Medicare funding on some blood tests that were considered unnecessary on a regular basis. The only one that I was getting tested for on a regular basis was Vitamin D.

A good bet is Australia gets most of it's small hospital supplies from China, so it's possible thats's where they get the testing vials from.