Leeds General Infirmary: System changeover at hospital lab causes 'chaos' for patients awaiting results
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
The shift, that happened at Leeds General Infirmary at the start of December, resulted in a significant backlog, the doctor claimed.


He said it has also meant an increase in workload for GPs as blood tests have had to be repeated, causing distress to patients.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdResponding to concerns, a hospital boss apologised for disruption caused by “unexpected technical issues”, which he said should be resolved by the end of the week.
Speaking anonymously to the YEP, the Bradford-based GP said the problems started more than a month ago.
“We have had incredible problems with the pathology lab service at Leeds General Infirmary,” he said.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Around mid-December, a system changeover essentially caused absolute chaos in terms of dealing with incoming patients’ results.
“Usually, we have the results from blood tests within one to two days. But now there is a massive delay.
“This has caused a huge increase in GP workload and a huge amount of patient anxiety because they have had to repeat tests.
“We’ve had samples that have not even been processed and needed repeating, as well as duplicate results."
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad

He added: “We’ve been getting reassuring words from Leeds, but we are now into week six of the disruption.
“In their latest update, they apologised for missing results. If a sample is kept in the lab for too long, it deteriorates and is not usable.”
Dr Magnus Harrison, Chief Medical Officer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Together with our partner trusts across West Yorkshire, we’re working hard to provide a single, seamless process for patients having blood tests across the region.
"The new laboratory system (LIMS) will allow patient test results to be viewed by clinicians across all six trust areas, regardless of where a test was obtained, and ultimately delivering a better experience for our patients. The current LIMS system is old and needs to be replaced.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“This has been a large, complex transition. Leeds Hospitals receives around 10,000 blood samples every day, and the majority of these tests have been processed as usual.
“However, during the transition we experienced some unexpected technical issues, which impacted some patients from Leeds and Bradford who had blood samples taken at their GP practices and community centres.
“The main impact of this was that some blood tests results were delayed or some were sent in a format which meant that GP practices could not file them into their systems.
“We sincerely apologise to any patients and GP practice colleagues affected by this disruption and to the small number of patients who have been recalled and retested.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe continued: “We are now confident that all the issues are resolved, but acknowledge that sending all the outstanding results has added to our GPs colleagues workload with a sudden increase in the number of test results that they are having to deal with.
“This should be resolved by the end of the week when the previously delayed results should all be through correctly.”
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.