Consumer Rights at GP Surgery

Grolschevik

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

totally confused now. first you say they are not paid for their time now you say they are.

GPs generally don't take the bloods themselves (at least where I live). Rather, a phlebotomy nurse comes into the surgery on a set day a week, takes the bloods, and either transports the sample to the hospital lab themselves or it goes by courier.

Even if the GP takes the bloods, there are associated admin costs with handling and labelling the sample and getting it to the hospital securely in the appropriate way.

All this is separate from the consultation fee. Best to think of it as a separate admin charge.

the_pen_turner

I'm suprised at the responses here.
The ophaspaid for a service and not received it. They paid to have bloods taken , couriers, tested and results delivered to hospital. . There is only one transaction so all the responsibility falls on the seller . The gp in this case . What part of the chain failed is irrelivent to the op.

ohnonotgmail

the_pen_turner wrote: »

I'm suprised at the responses here.
The ophaspaid for a service and not received it. They paid to have bloods taken , couriers, tested and results delivered to hospital. . There is only one transaction so all the responsibility falls on the seller . The gp in this case . What part of the chain failed is irrelivent to the op.

it is relevant. the OP paid for a GP to take bloods. bloods are collected once a day by courier. once they have been collected the GP is no longer responsible.

maxsmum

The GP took the blood - you are paying for their skill and education, I guess. I got something stamped by a notary recently. 40 euro. For a stamp. Didn't have to pay for the equipment, just their expertise. Wasn't too impressed, but they went to college for a reason I guess. It's a service provided that you can't do yourself!

the_pen_turner

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

it is relevant. the OP paid for a GP to take bloods. bloods are collected once a day by courier. once they have been collected the GP is no longer responsible.

Is it 2 separate transactions.

SouthWesterly

rock22 wrote: »

GP's are provided with everything for taking blood , including the anaysis itself, totally free of charge.

They have decided to make money out of other peoples work and the system allows that.

The courier isn't a free service

ohnonotgmail

the_pen_turner wrote: »

Is it 2 separate transactions.

2 transactions, only one of which you pay for.

Clearlier

It sounds like you had the option to pay for bloods to be taken in advance of an operation so that they wouldn't need to be taken on the day of it. You availed of the option and although blood was taken the end goal of the option was not achieved.

The vast majority of GP's would readily appreciate your frustration and would seek to do something about it - they're interested in the welfare of their patients and they won't appreciate their time (not to mention yours) having been wasted by the failure that occurred here.

A next step would be to write a letter to the practice manager explaining what you expected, what actually occurred and asking for an explanation. Be polite and constructive - you've probably been going to the GP for a while and it's in everyone's interest to have a positive relationship. Focus on the impact on you of not having received that service and see how they respond. If you were charged again in the hospital for having blood taken then that should be mentioned. Write in the third person and take the emotion out of it. If you get them to focus on a problem that needs to be resolved you'll likely have a far more positive interaction than you have to date.

Good luck with it.

L1011

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

totally confused now. first you say they are not paid for their time now you say they are.

You are confusing yourself, nobody else is

MOH

Xterminator wrote: »

It sounds to me like you have a prior issue with your doctor and this incident is being seen subjectively by you, as reaffirming doctor as suspect. And no stranger in the internet could comment of how competent your unknow doctor and his surgery staff are.

But it is clear, you are judging the issue without evidence.

micosoft wrote: »

Why don't you just ask the GP what happened before going off into a dose of outrage. Must be very tiring.

Another thing... it's people like you that make organisations and people reluctant to admit a mistake. Quick to outrage. Quick to threaten legal action.

There are several reasons off hand I could think why the bloods were delayed for example. Stop living life assuming "somebody is at fault" and help fix processes. It's far less stressful tbh.

What OP are you two reading? If anyone is judging an issue without evidence and quick to outrage it's ye on the basis of these responses.

OP paid for bloods to be taken by GP, and delivered to hospital, to have them in time for a surgery.

OP arrived at hospital to be told that the bloods weren't there, and had to have them re-taken, defeating the whole purpose of paying for the separate bloods initially.

It's not unreasonable for the OP to look for a refund considering the service they paid for wasn't provided (assuming that service was the taking of bloods and delivery to hospital prior to surgery).

It unclear who's at fault - it might be the hospital who mislaid them, it might be the doctor who sent them to the wrong place or is secretly a vampire and drank them, it might be whoever was responsible for the transport.

That's all irrelevant - the doctor is the one who was paid by the OP for the service, so the doctor is the one the OP should raise the issue with. It's not up to the OP to play detective and try and determine exactly when, how and why the bloods went missing.

The OP hasn't threatened legal action, or asserted a long-standing campaign of corruption by the doctor's surgery.They just asked a perfectly reasonable question.

Charles Babbage

Telly wrote: »

Chase up the hospital then! Your doc did what he was meant to do and charged you for the service. Should he be out of pocket because your bloods went missing in the hosp?

If he is the agent for the process then yes.
If a shop sells you a dud product then you deal with the shop not the manufacturer.

The OP paid a a service he did not receive.

JustAThought

OP - I agree its frustrating and poor form, but you really need your doctor on your side - let it go. Hospitals are mini-cities - anything couod have happened it once it got there - not logged,
put in shelf to corrupt, staff member mislabeled it or forgot to send it to the right dept, , staff member was called to an emergency/other issue and so it didn’t get done in time etc. If your GP
drew the bloods in front of you (!) you have little case fir a refund from them and no
hope of getting an admission of liability from anyone in a hospital. By all
means say to your doctor how frustrated you are but don’t press the point - maybe ask
them if it happens a lit with that hospital. The jext time you need an emergency appointment or
over the phone perscription or work note you want them on your side - keep them there

Apart from many errors and f ups in hospital ‘care’ I once was perscribed a perscription 40 times the legal dose that had the pharmacist not noticed would have killed me. You cannot believe how they all banded togetger in the hospital to fob me off and casual explain it away and cover up for each other - you havn’t a chance of getting redress from them - just of jeeping your doctor onside while expressing your outrage at their incompetence and carelessness.

Dav010

MOH wrote: »

What OP are you two reading? If anyone is judging an issue without evidence and quick to outrage it's ye on the basis of these responses.

OP paid for bloods to be taken by GP, and delivered to hospital, to have them in time for a surgery.

OP arrived at hospital to be told that the bloods weren't there, and had to have them re-taken, defeating the whole purpose of paying for the separate bloods initially.

It's not unreasonable for the OP to look for a refund considering the service they paid for wasn't provided (assuming that service was the taking of bloods and delivery to hospital prior to surgery).

It unclear who's at fault - it might be the hospital who mislaid them, it might be the doctor who sent them to the wrong place or is secretly a vampire and drank them, it might be whoever was responsible for the transport.

That's all irrelevant - the doctor is the one who was paid by the OP for the service, so the doctor is the one the OP should raise the issue with. It's not up to the OP to play detective and try and determine exactly when, how and why the bloods went missing.

The OP hasn't threatened legal action, or asserted a long-standing campaign of corruption by the doctor's surgery.They just asked a perfectly reasonable question.

I own a medical Clinic with GPs who provide this service. If the GP requested the bloods be taken and was responsible for interpreting the results, yes the buck would stop with the GP, the bloods would be done again FOC. In this case, the GP was facilitating a request by the Hospital and took the bloods on their behalf. Once it leaves the Clinic, it is up to the Hospital to follow up on it. The op paid his/her GP to do a procedure, it was done.

GiftGrub100

Do not fall out with your GP over a 25 euro procedure that they did. End of discussion. Full Stop..

If the pubs were allowed open that’s four to five pints / 16 cans from the off licence / five multipacks of dairy milk on special/ five breakfast rolls

When sh1t hits the fan some day you will be glad that you did not kick up a fuss over this one, by all means tell your GP what happened but imho let it slide.