Hello

[Deleted member 27273]

Hello,

I have just joined and have had T1 diabetes for 37 years since childhood. I am on MDI and don't know what my current HbA1c is because my GP surgery are refusing to take blood from patients at the patients request. This is a blanket rule they have created which applies to all patients regardless of conditions. Was previously 6.3% last year so that is hopeful!

Have good control most of the time but it likes to throw a wobbler now and again!

 

[MrDaibetes]

Hello,

I have just joined and have had T1 diabetes for 37 years since childhood. I am on MDI and don't know what my current HbA1c is because my GP surgery are refusing to take blood from patients at the patients request. This is a blanket rule they have created which applies to all patients regardless of conditions. Was previously 6.3% last year so that is hopeful!

Have good control most of the time but it likes to throw a wobbler now and again!

Welcome to the forum, do you have a diabetes team at the hospital who could take your blood? have you been referred to the hospital from your GP? Most of us with Type One Diabetes see a team at a hospital.

 

[Deleted member 27273]

Welcome to the forum, do you have a diabetes team at the hospital who could take your blood? have you been referred to the hospital from your GP? Most of us with Type One Diabetes see a team at a hospital.

Yes, I do see a team of hcps at my local clinic infact, I mentioned this to my consultant and his reply was "they should be doing that anyway" meaning they should be doing bloods. The GP told me the reason for this rule was because patients had been requesting blood to be taken unecessarily in other words patients were giving them work to do. Nothing against GPs, I actually don't think a GP has made this rule...I suspect it may be a management decision but not 100% sure about this.

To be honest I think this will backfire on the surgery eventually.

I asked the GP, what am I supposed to do when I need a HbA1c for a diabetic clinic appointment? I was advised to ask my consultant for a letter, but this makes more work for consultants and I feel like the jam in a sandwich!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I can understand GP surgeries not wanting to be taking blood on request. (I can't imagine it being a significant problem, but maybe that's just my lack of imagination.)

But I'd have thought your GP would also want to know your HbA1c (and likely a bunch of other things) at least annually? Even if they don't much care, I'd have thought GPs might sometimes want blood tests, so would be able to request them when they think they're needed.

(I could understand if the GP surgery just doesn't take blood for tests, ever. I seem to remember that was the case at mine. In that case everyone went to the local hospital and everyone understood that was the system. Makes complete sense to have blood taken by people who do it all the time, and I'm sure in some GP surgeries that's nobody there.)

 

[MrDaibetes]

Yes, I do see a team of hcps at my local clinic infact, I mentioned this to my consultant and his reply was "they should be doing that anyway" meaning they should be doing bloods. The GP told me the reason for this rule was because patients had been requesting blood to be taken unecessarily in other words patients were giving them work to do. Nothing against GPs, I actually don't think a GP has made this rule...I suspect it may be a management decision but not 100% sure about this.

To be honest I think this will backfire on the surgery eventually.

I asked the GP, what am I supposed to do when I need a HbA1c for a diabetic clinic appointment? I was advised to ask my consultant for a letter, but this makes more work for consultants and I feel like the jam in a sandwich!

If you are with the hospital then most GPs won't see you for anything diabetes-related if you have a hospital team. Speak with your diabetes nurses who can sort this blood work out for you.

 

[Deleted member 27273]

My local GP Surgery employ health care assistants who take blood and send it off to the lab at the local hospital which is a short distance away, so there are people available to do it but there is an issue for people with conditions who have reviews with consultants. If consultants refuse to send the GPs letters questing blood to be taken and tested,which it looks like mine has, then it can leave the patient in a bit of a pickle. However, yes I can understand they are trying to control their workload but at what cost, only time can tell.

I have a Libre and averages on the mysugr app which are usually very close to my HbA1c anyway and I keep a very close eye on my control so it should be ok.

I was curious about my cholesterol level and am on statins so yes they should be checking that as well as HbA1c.

GPs look at their computers and give me results from 12 months previously but we are all human!!

It's a wierd situation and I have never come across it before. Years ago, when I was first diagnosed in 1982, all blood was taken at the hospital and not the GP surgery. It may also have something to do with GPs controlling their own budgets but I am not so sure.

 

[trophywench]

We have to have a form, detailing the actual test(s) required, which not only informs the phlebotomist which vial(s) to use since they already contain anti coagulants appropriate to that particular blood test, but also informs the lab what test they have to do. That's been the case wherever in England I have lived since diagnosis in 1972. Nothing new.

Hence I make a phlebotomy appointment either at the docs or the hospital, or even at a nearby Pharmacy where they offer phlebotomy, I produce the test request when I arrive, the vial(s) are sent to the lab, and the results are conveyed to me by whoever requested the tests. Hospital clinic AND GP surgery, as the GP surgery also has to do all the other annual tests we diabetics have to have.

Where in the UK do you live (generally not specifically) ?

 

[Deleted member 27273]

I live in the North West Greater Manchester area and according to the CQC, my GP surgery actually requires improvement for people with long term conditions......!!

Ahem
The plot thickens!

The information about the 'blood test rule' was actually given to me by a GP and I questioned it, in a nice way of course ( I did not interrogate them or anything) I questioned it because it made no sense to me. I can tell Trophywench that your surgery, from what you are saying have to do the blood tests and this is basically what my consultant said to me at my last appointment about the surgery I am registered with.

At other GP surgeries, or so I have been told not far from here, the patient goes in, grabs a ticket and sits in a queue waiting for their number to be called and they request the blood test and blood is drawn and is then sent off to the lab for testing.

I need to register with count Dracula's GP surgery, they probably have an excellent CQC rating and are not backward in coming forward with blood tests!!

I am waiting for my consultant to kick off with them!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

At other GP surgeries, or so I have been told not far from here, the patient goes in, grabs a ticket and sits in a queue waiting for their number to be called and they request the blood test and blood is drawn and is then sent off to the lab for testing.

At mine (in Teddington, SW London) I need to get the form (with plastic wallet) from the GP, then I make an appointment for the test (for a fasting test, that can be shortly before the surgery opens), and a nurse takes it then. When the hospital did it, I could take the form to the hospital on a couple of mornings a week, take a ticket and wait. I imagine various GP surgeries and hospitals do things in different ways, at least partly depending on how many blood tests they need to take.

 

[Deleted member 27273]

At mine (in Teddington, SW London) I need to get the form (with plastic wallet) from the GP, then I make an appointment for the test (for a fasting test, that can be shortly before the surgery opens),

My surgery stopped doing fasting blood tests for diabetics on insulin a few years ago because they felt the risk outweighed the benefits. This was a relief for me because I could not keep my bg up from the night before without going hypo on the way to the surgery or after I arrived there! I was very happy about this change because I have no option but to walk to the surgery which is not too far from where I live but far enough with no food inside me. I would imagine it would be much worse for people who drive just in case they went hypo at the wheel.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

My surgery stopped doing fasting blood tests for diabetics on insulin a few years ago because they felt the risk outweighed the benefits.

As far as I understand it fasting is no longer required for any of the usual tests (though I think it may be for lipid profile (which I also get) depending on the lab). My guess is when I next ask my GP she'll drop it for me, too. There's less risk in terms of driving since it's a small town (I imagine all patients are within reasonable walking distance) and public transport is also very good. I suspect they keep (at least for me they have) the fasting bit is inertia rather than anything of use.