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The challenge
The Blood Taking Department was one of the busiest units at St Cross.
Every weekday over 300 people attended the department; that’s well over 60,000 a year. This often led to an overcrowded waiting room and lengthy queues which sometimes extended out into the busy corridors.
To meet this demand, which results in a staggering 350,000 pathology tests in the laboratory, there were just four cubicles and they were separated from the waiting area by the hospital corridor that led to the day surgery suite.
Keeping waiting to a minimum was a daily challenge for the staff.
In 2014 the management team made some improvements to the way the department was run. These included
- taking over consulting rooms when they are not in use,
- opening the 'meet and greet' reception desk at 07:30 which means that patients can have a seat in the waiting room before the service commences and
- other temporary workarounds.