Blood Tests
You can have your blood test at Hertford County Hospital Pathology Unit which is open 08:00 – 15:45 Monday – Friday, or Bowling Road Clinic, Ware which is open Monday 13:30 – 15:45 and Wednesday and Friday 08:30 – 11:45. Children under the age of 5 years may need to attend QE2 or Lister hospital for their blood test.
Please take the form that the doctor has given you to the unit, as this will instruct them which tests are required. Certain tests require specific conditions to ensure accurate results.
A blood test is when a sample of blood is taken for testing in a laboratory. Blood tests have a wide range of uses and are one of the most common types of medical test.
For example, a blood test can be used to:
- assess your general state of health
- confirm the presence of a bacterial or viral infection
- see how well certain organs, such as the liver and kidneys, are functioning
A blood test usually involves the phlebotomist taking a blood sample from a blood vessel in your arm. and the usual place for a sample is the inside of the elbow or wrist, where the veins are relatively close to the surface.
Blood samples from children are most commonly taken from the back of the hand; the child’s hand will be anaesthetised (numbed) with a special cream before the sample is taken.
You can find out more about blood tests, their purpose and the way they are performed on the NHS Choices website.
Non-urgent advice: For those patients unable to use internet
Here are the following numbers
Hertford County Hospital, Lister and QEII Hospital: 01438 284044
Bowling Road: 0300 123 7571
eConsult
eConsult has now replaced the Online Consult service we used to use, please click on the image above to get started.
We will aim to respond within 2 working days but please bear with us in the early stages of this service going live. Once we have received your eConsult form, we will send you a text message or email notifying you of when we will respond by.
Please also note, for now, this service will only be available during our opening hours (Monday – Friday, 08:00 – 18:30).
Systm Online
Online services allow you to:
- book, check or cancel appointments with a GP, nurse or other healthcare professional
- order repeat prescriptions
- see parts of your health record, including information about medicines, vaccinations and test results
- see communications between your GP surgery and other services, such as hospitals
How to register for Online Services
If you have not used our online services before you will need to:
- Contact the surgery by phone or in person
- Verify your identity
- Secure a username and password
- Enter SystmOnline and enter your registration details exactly as shown on the form.
- After registering, log on with your username and password.
NHS App
You can use the NHS App to check your symptoms and get instant advice, book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view your GP medical record and more.
What the NHS App does
- get advice about coronavirus – get information about coronavirus and find out what to do if you think you have it.
- order repeat prescriptions – see your available medicines, request a new repeat prescription and choose a pharmacy for your prescriptions to be sent to.
- book appointments – search for, book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery, and see details of your upcoming and past appointments.
- check your symptoms – search trusted NHS information and advice on hundreds of conditions and treatments, and get instant advice or medical help near you.
- register your organ donation decision – choose to donate some or all of your organs and check your registered decision.
- find out how the NHS uses your data – choose if data from your health records is shared for research and planning.
- view parts of your GP record – including information about medication, allergies, vaccinations, previous illnesses and test results.
If you’re a patient at our practice you can use the new NHS App, a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.
Get the app
Non-urgent advice: Having Problems?
You can still contact the practice by phone or in person, this is just another option, which other patients have found is more convenient and saves them time. More information including “how to” leaflets and videos of patients and why they are using GP online services are available at www.nhs.uk/gponlineservices