Specimen transport a different way: four years on, was it successful?

Me and my big mouth! Standing in specimen reception one day, observing the piles of specimens in bags that had just be delivered from the GP surgeries, I casually remarked “wouldn’t it be great if that lot came in ready racked?” I went away and looked for sealable plastic food containers that would be large enough to hold our laboratory racks but didn’t find anything very satisfactory. About two months later the haematology manager reminded me of that remark and showed me a Greiner newsletter detailing its transport line. This was my racking solution. I suddenly had a project on my hands.

Prior to April 2010, GP samples were tested on two acute sites. Specimens were packed in specimen bags with absorbent wadding inside the bag. Site A received one bag per patient for all haematology and biochemistry samples’ site B received one bag per patient for haematology samples, one bag per patient for biochemistry samples. This variation was due to the fact that the two laboratories were in different locations within the hospital.

Vast numbers of blood samples in specimen bags were coming into the haematology and biochemistry laboratories from GP surgeries in the afternoon. The amount of unpacking required was overwhelming. Three Band 2 staff members on one site and two Band 2 staff on the other were needed for the entire afternoon every day (Monday to Friday) to unpack the samples from the specimen bags. More staff were required for labelling and data entry.