Blood taking service at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust restored

The service provided by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) will return to Elizabeth House at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Mallings Health Building at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.

Clinics at The Lantern in Shrewsbury, Court Street and Euston House in Telford will no longer be in operation. However, to create further capacity Whitchurch Community Hospital and Bridgnorth Community Hospital blood taking clinics will remain open and will be an appointment only service.

During the COVID period some GP practices have provided a blood taking service for their own patients. Over the next month, these practices will gradually reduce the number of patients that have their bloods taken in the practice. Practices that provided a blood taking service before the COVID pandemic will continue to do this (these are generally the rural practices in Shropshire).

Appointments for patients requiring a blood test, who have been referred by their GP or consultant, will be by appointment only. Patients are advised to only attend at their appointment time and asked to wait in their car if they arrive early. This will help ensure social distancing measures can be followed. Clinics will no longer be providing a walk-in service for patients.

All blood taking clinics will be open Monday to Friday as follows:

• Elizabeth House at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital 9.00am – 4.30pm
• Mallings Health Building at The Princess Royal Hospital, Telford 8.00am - 4.45pm
• Bridgnorth Community Hospital 8.30am – 12.30pm
• Whitchurch Community Hospital 9.00am – 4.00pm

Patients who are referred for a blood test will be asked to ring a booking line (available Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 4.00pm) to book an appointment and location that best fits with their personal and family lives.

Please be aware that The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust are currently restricting patient and visitor access and would ask that, where possible, patients attend for their appointment unaccompanied. Where this is not possible only one person should attend with the patient.

For those patients who were previously shielding and being provided with a home visiting service from Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust the appointment only blood taking service with the social distancing measures in place will be safe. We recognise that patients may be anxious about relaxing some restrictions after more than three months of shielding and if you have any specific concerns, or need advice, please speak to your GP or consultant.

For those patients unable to attend a clinic, for example if they are housebound, the GP or consultant will refer them to Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust who will provide a home visiting service. Patients who fall into this category locally will be identified by their GP and/or consultant.

If a patient or member of the patient’s household has symptoms of COVID-19 such as a new continuous cough, temperature or loss of taste or smell, they should not attend their appointment and should contact their GP or consultant for advice.