Blood tests will no longer be carried out at Deal hospital.

The phlebotomy service at the London hospital was thrown into uncertainly last month when it was revealed Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust would stop running the clinics from October 31.

GPs in town had a choice to carry on the service at the hospital or to provide them all out in-house.

Now, it has been revealed that arrangements have been made by the GPs to carry out all tests in their practices.

Similar changes are taking place in Herne Bay.

A statement from Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group said: "There are changes to where blood tests are carried out for some patients in Deal and Herne Bay.

"Blood tests are part of routine care that all general practices provide and patients will continue to have local access to blood tests when needed.

"Historically, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust provided blood tests at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Herne Bay and Victoria Hospital in Deal, which some GP practices have used for their patients.

"This service will cease at the end of October 2021 but all the relevant GP practices in Herne Bay and Deal now have arrangements in place to provide these blood tests."

This means as of November 1, patients at Manor Road Surgery, St Richard’s and Golf Road Surgery, Balmoral Surgery and Cedars Surgery, will have their bloods taken at their registered surgery.

Deal resident Marsha Horne, 67, said she fears longer waiting times now that the clinics at the hospital have been stopped.

She said: "No one is addressing how already struggling GP surgeries are meant to cope with the glut of people who will now be expected to have bloods done there.

"And no one is answering the question as to why this closure is happening in the first place nor why they chose do it in the midst of a pandemic and at a time (as we are constantly reminded) the surgeries are struggling to cope.

"We are not letting this fight go yet. We want a better, more realistic solution and just as importantly, we want (and have the right to) answers."

Anne Matthews, also from Deal, said she feared “already stretched” GPs will not be able to take on the extra work, and said it means patients will end up going to Buckland hospital in Dover, or further.

Annoucements have also been made by the GPs.

Posting on their website, St Richard's Road Surgery said: "Following discussions with Kent and Medway CCG we have agreed to extend our Phlebotomy (blood testing) clinics to enable patients who would have attended Deal Hospital to come the surgery for their blood tests.

"This change will start from November 1 at St Richard’s Road Surgery.

"For patients registered at Golf Road Surgery, we will be holding a weekly phlebotomy clinic on Thursday mornings from November 11, to avoid the need for patients registered at Golf Road Surgery to travel to the main surgery for routine blood tests."

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