Test results

We wish to inform our patients about a significant incident and ongoing technical issues that have occurred at the laboratories of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which have impacted both the digital upload of and processing of test results to GP IT systems in Leeds and Bradford.

If you have had blood tests from the 3^rd December 2024, you may impacted by this issue. We would encourage you to check the NHS App or your online records to see if the results you were expecting are available.

If you are concerned that any results are missing, please contact the practice, and we will liaise with the laboratories at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on your behalf to resolve the issue.

We understand that this may cause frustration or concern, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.  This is outwith the practices control. If you have been affected and wish to escalate your concerns please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) by email: patientexperience.leedsth@nhs.net,   Tel: 0113 2066261 or post: Patient Experience Department Trust Headquarters
St James’s Hospital, Leeds, LS9 7TF

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work with the hospital laboratories to address this matter.

The laboratory at Leeds Teaching Hospitals trust (LTHT), which processes & reports on all the bloods tests taken across Leeds, had a system upgrade in early December 2024.

Due to problems with this upgrade:

1. Some blood test results have been delayed in being sent back to the practice
2. Some blood test results were sent to us in an incorrect format: so will take us longer to review back in the practice
3. Some blood samples have been lost or have been discarded due to delays in processing which means they will have to be repeated
4. There may be staggered delays within a set of tests, meaning reports may not be representative. for example, a result may be marked as ‘normal’, and this communicated to the patient, but further test elements are yet to arrive (and may be ‘abnormal’).

This has been a problem across Leeds with every GP practice having to do a lot of extra work, checking and so on. At [insert practice name] we are facing a significant extra workload caused by this issue which is entirely outside our control. Please be assured that we are working through the extra work steadily and we will be in touch with patients as and when necessary.

Our preferred way for patients to know that their test results are back / and are normal, is by checking on the NHS App. You can see all your test results and your recent medical notes in the NHS App. It is downloadable from app stores.

If you had a blood test taken here at the practice more than 4 weeks ago and there are no results showing on the NHS App, please let us know via the Accurx contact box (choose the ‘admin query’ option). If you are not able to access the NHS App, then please do give us a call to check.

If you had a blood test taken here at the practice more than 4 weeks ago, and you cannot see all the results from it on the NHS App please let us know.

 West Yorkshire ICB, Leeds Local Medical Committee (which represents GPs) and Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust are working together to resolve the issues. However, Leeds General Practice feels this system upgrade has been poorly handled, resulting in a lot of extra work for practices at our busiest time of year. We will continue to post updates as we get them.

Should you wish to convey your feelings to LTHT, you can contact the patient Advice liaison Service here

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Mulberry Street Medical Practice

If your test results show that you need more tests or treatment, we will contact you.

Once a doctor has reviewed your test results, you can view them:

• in your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)
• in your SytmOnline account
• phone or visit us between 9am to 5pm and we will tell you what the results are

Questions about your results

If you want to talk to someone about your results, fill out our test results request form and someone will be in touch.

Please note that we do have a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection. In this respect we will only give out results to the person they relate to unless that person has given prior permission for their release or if they are not capable of understanding them.