Yesterday morning I took my mum to the GP feeling unwell and they found a satsuma-sized lump. She was given a referral…

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Summary

A woman with suspected gynecological cancer was unable to get an urgent blood test because the privatized blood testing company refused to draw blood from her foot due to lymphedema, citing they "don't have the licence" as a private company. The fragmented NHS system left her bouncing between GP, blood lab, and A&E with no resolution, highlighting the practical failures of NHS privatization.

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#1
Yesterday morning I took my mum to the GP feeling unwell and they found a satsuma-sized lump. She was given a referral for suspected gynaecological cancer and sent for an urgent blood test. What happened next shocked me. This is what NHS privatisation means in practice👇1/🧵
#2
The GP surgery is in a community hospital that has a blood test department. So we just had to go down the corridor for the urgent test. My mum can't have blood taken from her arms due to lymphedema, so they take it from her foot. This has never been a problem in the past. 2/
#3
But this time, the nurses said they couldn't take blood from my mum's foot because their manager had told them they were no longer allowed. One nurse told her it was because they were a private company and "it's about making money." 3/
#4
We went back to the GP surgery, where the receptionist didn't know what to do. None of their clinicians wanted to take the blood. Stressed, we returned to the blood test dept. They suggested going to their main facility 12 miles away to talk to the manager in person. 4/
#5
We found the main blood test facility—with NHS branding—in a shopping centre. After explaining the problem to the manager, she said "We don't take blood from feet any more because we're a private company now." 5/
#6
The manager said they'd been privatised a couple of years ago and were now HSL (Health Services Laboratories). I said "so the service was working fine, they've privatised it, and now it's worse?" She replied they "don't have the licence" to take blood from feet. 6/
#7
It felt like we were in some kind of surreal film. I asked what we were meant to do if we'd been referred for an urgent blood test for suspected cancer, but the company that does NHS blood tests won't do a blood test. She said go to A&E. 7/
#8
At A&E the receptionist told us you can't visit A&E for a blood test. She spoke to two nurses and came back with a clear answer: no. She said call your GP. Trouble is, as of last Wednesday, the GP surgery's phone is answered by an AI service called Andi. 8/
#9
So we drove back to the GP surgery. By now it was late afternoon and my mum was tired. We waited for the practice manager until we were informed she'd "gone into a long meeting". We were told to go home. 9/
#10
My mum has had blood taken from her foot many times, usually in the same facility. But successive governments have broken up the NHS into privately-run fragments. Their bottom line is profits, not patients. Meanwhile, my mum has suspected cancer but still no blood test. 10/10