Phlebotomy waiting times

The LMC has had numerous meetings with SBUHB regarding the unacceptable waiting times for phlebotomy (blood test) appointments. SBUHB acknowledging that the Health Board shares the LMC's serious concerns. The main issues highlighted in these meetings include:

• Staffing Crisis: Since April, there has been a cumulative turnover of approximately 10 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff, affecting both primary and secondary carem services. This has been compounded by HB’s recruitment policy.

• Patient Impact: The staff shortage has led to very poor patient experiences, particularly for vulnerable patients and those on cancer pathways. These concerns have been escalated to the Chief Executive via correspondence from MPs and MSs (Welsh Government) and patients themselves.

• Historical Problem: The Health Board has had this problem before, and the current, temporary fixes are not sustainable or future-proofed.

• National waiting time initiatives and the increasing requirements to monitor medication have impacted demand. 

The HB has resolved to take the following immediate & Short-Term Actions:

• Recruitment Drive: RP has signed off on 5.5 WTE posts for recruitment, with interviews held on November 20th and 21st. Candidates will undergo rapid onboarding including being pulled early, where possible, from their notice periods.

• Redeployment: The secondary care phlebotomy offer at Neath Port Talbot will be reviewed and rationalised to free up capacity. Capacity will be redeployed to the primary care phlebotomy offer.

• Short-Term Staffing Boost: Shifts are being offered to anyone qualified to take blood, including medical and nursing students, as a short-term measure to boost capacity.

• Service Relocation: The phlebotomy service, recently moved to a new, non-ideal location within Singleton Hospital and will be moved again within Singleton to allow for extra chairs and improved patient throughput.

SBUHB is keen to work with the LMC to design a sustainable, future-proofed, 3-5 year model for the phlebotomy service, noting that recent data from 2 years ago indicated that approximately 12K blood tests were taking place in practices and not being claimed for. It should also be noted that the Welsh Government have an agenda to transform the phlebotomy service illustrating that it is a national area of concern.

Please continue to datix related issues and contact us regarding your concerns about this important patient safety issue. 

Learning Disabilities Questionnaire

You may get a questionnaire about learning disabilities from the health board which asks for information over your contractual obligations.

The contractual requirements for monitoring are clearly defined:

• Total number of patients on the LD register.

• Number of health checks offered.

• Number of health checks completed.

The questionnaire asks for considerably more granular information, including staff training percentages, the availability of read easy materials, and a detailed breakdown of reasonable adjustments (e.g., direct phone lines, specific spaces for carers, outreach capacity).

Gathering this level of detail would be entirely voluntary for the practice but not contractual.

Can we also bring to your attention that a tile is now available in PCIP: Learning Disabilities Health Checks - Tile in the Primary Care Information Portal

Following the transfer of the requirements of the Directed Supplementary Service (DSS) for Learning Disabilities (LD) into ‘unified’ services in the GMS contract 2025/26, an Audit+ module was deployed to Practices to support the monitoring requirements that all Practices are required to provide:

1. The total number of patients on the LD register

2. number of health checks offered

3. number of health checks completed

The Audit+ module whilst supporting Practices with day-to-day activities also submits aggregate data (to support contractual requirements) which we are pleased to say is now available and presented within the Primary Care Information Portal

UPDATE to MRI scans being requested in a GP's name

Following a "discussion" on MRIs being requested by audiology in the GP's name at PLTS on 16/10/25, Morgannwg LMC has written a formal complaint on behalf of the constituents regarding the conduct of a recent presentation concerning MRI scans being requested in the name of General Practitioners.

Several constituents attempted to submit legitimate questions and concerns via the moderated discussion platform. We are profoundly disappointed to report that these attempts at open discussion were actively censored. Numerous submissions from our members, including key questions highlighting that this requesting pathway appears to contravene established General Medical Council (GMC) guidance that clinicians should not request investigations using another clinicians name, were neither published for general viewing nor put to the presenters for a response. If a similar request was made of secondary care consultants to authorise other persons to request investigations in their name, we would expect them to have similar concerns. Several constituents also felt that it was incorrect to suggest that mastoid abnormalities and vascular abnormalities impinging on the 8th nerve are "incidental" findings in a scan requested for a patient with ear symptoms to regard them as such raises concerns regarding the capabilities of those reporting the scans, concerns which, again, they were unable to raise for discussion. 

Morgannwg LMC had previously encouraged its constituent GPs to ensure that all outstanding professional concerns regarding this pathway were robustly discussed at this forum and discussions with the Health Board led us to believe that there would be the opportunity to do so on 16/10/25. The failure of the moderator to allow any opportunity for these critical points to be addressed is unacceptable and undermines the spirit of collaboration and transparency required between primary and secondary care services.

Our concerns which remain outstanding and are summised on our website at: https://www.morgannwglmc.org.uk/post/mri-scans-being-requested-in-gp-s-name .We strongly urge practices to consider these ethical and professional matters when engaging with the pathway as it has been described. It is the view of Morgannwg LMC that the pathway is unlikely to be withdrawn completely as it is regarded as a success by the Health Board, despite the gap in commissioning ths service which has resulted in this demand for MRI scans to be requested by audiology in the name of the GP,  and reduces the workload for the ENT department.

We have requested a formal explanation from the Health Board as to why legitimate questions relating to professional guidance were censored, and what steps will be taken to ensure open and honest dialogue on contentious clinical pathways moving forward.

We would very much welcome feedback regarding this issue so please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or queries.