"Equipment and delay in pathology results"

I needed to take my teenager for a blood test that included blood cultures so it had to be at a hospital. KEMH is far from where we live but I know that the phlebotomist’s at KEMH are always amazing so I took them here. The process was quick and my teenager tolerated it well despite needing 8 tests.

Unfortunately when we went to get the results from our GP we were told an expired bottle had been used for the blood cultures and so the results were invalid and needed repeating. My teenager was devastated they had to go through this again. We went back and they asked the phlebotomist to please check that this bottle was in date. The phlebotomist confirmed that it was and also told my teen that expired bottles didn’t really expire on the date it said and they were low low in stock at the time of the original test and had to use out of date stock.

My teenager is quite unwell and having to have additional blood tests for no reason and delay the result time is awful for them. If the bottles don’t expire on the date they say they do why would they have that date? Are pathology centres seemingly so poor that that they have to use out of date bottles? My intention isn’t to blame the phlebotomists involved but the system. Was it just an oversight? Or were they truly advised to use out of date bottles? When trying to identify a serious illness as in the case of my child surely an expired cultures bottle can at best muddy the waters? This is so upsetting.

The staff I have seen are all very good at venepuncture and have a lovely bedside nature. I’m just concerned and upset that we had to subject my child twice to a difficult process when it seems that if procedures were in place that bottles are checked regularly for expiry dates and not used after expiry this could have been avoided or if it’s correct they were knowingly using expired bottles due to a shortage that the health system addresses this. Ultimately my teenager's results were reported with the message “expired bottle used” which would seem to indicate the results were unreliable hence my doctor’s insistence we repeat the test.

This caused unnecessary delay in identifying my child's illness as well as pain and trauma and additional driving. My teenager needed to be stuck twice at the second visit because the first was so painful and missed a vein. This happens we get that, but it means they were stuck 3 times when if the right bottle had been used only once would be needed. Please implement a policy of checking for expired products daily from the phlebotomy trolly and perhaps not overstocking them so there is not so much stock at risk of expiring and being missed.

What may be considered an innocent oversight has resulted in

1) burden of extra driving and parking fees

2) an unwell teenager requiring additional painful and stressful procedures

3 ) a delay in identifying or discounting serious infection in a very unwell young person.

It was an additional stress and burden that we could have done without that I believe could easily be avoided.