Calls to reverse decision to close two phlebotomy hubs

The phlebotomy hub at Gransha Park is a space dedicated to withdrawing blood

There are calls for the Western Health and Social Care Trust to reverse a decision to close specialist services for taking blood samples from patients.

Two phlebotomy hubs that were set up in Londonderry and Omagh during the Covid-19 pandemic as a space dedicated to withdrawing blood are now set to close.

They were set up to reduce footfall and stop hospitals from being overwhelmed.

The trust has said the service can no longer be provided at the two hub locations as funding has now ended.

The hubs in both Omagh and Derry are to close by the end of July, with services returning to their pre-Covid working arrangements, the trust has confirmed.

That means that blood withdrawal services that took place at the hubs will now return to hospitals and GP surgeries.

The British Medical Association's chair in Northern Ireland, Dr Tom Black, has said this move has the potential to overwhelm GP surgeries at a time when they are already struggling with workloads.

Dr Black said GPs across Northern Ireland are already under enormous pressure, with many practices handing back their contracts.

The BMA's Dr Tom Black says closing the hubs could mean already under pressure GP practices will have an increased workload

"We are very concerned that if the hub goes this means that we could have even more traffic coming through our treatment room," Dr Black said.

"To be frank, it is already full and we couldn't cope with more work - so there are real concerns in general practice about this."

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Dr Black said the closures of the hubs are just one of many cuts that the health service is seeing every day.

"We are just seeing cut after cut after cut," Dr Black told BBC Radio Foyle's The North West Today.

"This is putting pressure on patients and putting more pressure on staff.

"We are seeing the value of the health service diminishing because there is simply not enough funding going in."

'A backward step'

SDLP assembly member Mark H Durkan described the hub in Derry as "a Godsend to many people" and said any closure of phlebotomy hubs was a "backward step".

"Every medical professional I have spoken to over the past week about this has agreed that this is a completely backward step," Mr Durkan said.

"The trust is saying that their plan is to revert to the pathways that were in place pre-Covid but the whole landscape of healthcare has changed drastically since then.

"The hub should be looked at as an exemplar and the model should be rolled out elsewhere, rather than rowed back on."