> Julian
> We took a view FWIW that if a GP did it before the advent of practice
> nurses, it was reasonable for us to continue to do it, whether paid or not,
> whereas if I / we didn't do it before, we can't be required to do it now.
that, plus whether or not a GP was competant to do it, was the nub
of the GMSC / GPSs view years ago.
> Our nurses also spend a lot of time taking blood on behalf of secondary
> care services. Our view is that this should be funded. Whether we should
> receive additional funding, above the equivalent of a staff budget, for
> doing in house primary care phlebotomy is another matter. I'm agnostic /
> haven't looked at this so far. Certainly if people elsewhere are funded we
> won't keep doing it for free.
Suffolk LMC organized payment for phebotomy about 5 years ago. I am
ignorant of how this has passed over into new contract though.
Note they funded phlebotomy, not expensive nurses time to
to tke blood. But our experience was that our phlebotomists took
a long time (year or so) to get as quick as the nurses, so it was
horses for courses.
Same has been shown for nurse practitioners - pay them less but
they take longer than a GP etc..
David Jobson
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