Ein cyf / Our ref: 544/14/FOI
Dyddiad / Date: 1st May 2015
You asked us:
1. Overall Pathology departments annual budget through the 3 sites (breakdown of the
Pathology department’s annual budget for Bangor, Wrexham and Glan Clwyd).
2. Breakdown of the Bangor pathology department’s budget regarding staff costs
including overtime, including a breakdown of the current cost, reagent cost and any
other related costs over the 24 months.
3. Staff numbers in the laboratory in Ysbyty Gwynedd, Glan Clwyd and Wrexham.
4. Numbers of incidents of pre-analytical errors in blood testing recorded in the laboratory
on monthly and yearly basis over last 2 years (on Datix or any other reporting incident
database used in the Health Board).
5. Number of reported incidents and complaints in the last 2 years regarding blood test
errors over the last 3 years. If possible what kind of reported incident (on Datix).
6. The average cost of the most common blood test in BCUHB (inc FBC, INR, ESR,
Serum Ferritin, B12 foliate, CRP, LFT, Glucose, TFT and U&E etc).
7. The average turnaround time from sample blood taken to sample test results on Welsh
clinical portal.
8. Staff sickness levels of the pathology department on each site.
9. Any environmental initiative that has been implemented in the department over the 3
sites over the last 3 years.
10. How much does it cost annually to dispose of blood samples from the haematology and
biochemistry laboratories.
You further clarified, if possible provide both the budget figures and the actual
budget spend figures (under or overspent). Regarding question 9 I am looking for
any environmental initiative or policy such as ISO 14000 or green dragon which the
department have. Anything to reduce the pathology carbon footprint, recycle more
and save money for the Health Board (even small schemes such as switching pc or
printers off at night, recycling blood test back paper forms or plastics).
Cyfeiriad Gohebiaeth ar gyfer y Cadeirydd a'r Prif Weithredwr / Correspondence address for Chairman and Chief Executive:
Swyddfa'r Gweithredwyr / Executives’ Office,
Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd
Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2PW
Gwefan: www.pbc.cymru.nhs.uk / Web: www.bcu.wales.nhs.uk
Response:
1 & 2. Please find below Pathology department’s annual budget figures, including staff
costs, however we are unable to provide breakdowns by site as this level of detail is not
recorded:
2014-15
Pathology
Income
Pay
Non-Pay
Total
Budget
-£2,731,052
£11,597,174
£11,999,546
£20,865,668
£
Actual
-£2,770,265
£13,171,767
£13,625,763
£24,027,265
WTE
Variance
Budget
Actual
Variance
-£39,213
294.30
290.10
-4.20
£1,574,593
£1,626,217
£3,161,597
3.
Employee Location Name
Wrexham Maelor Acute Hospital
Ysbyty Glan Clwyd
Ysbyty Gwynedd
Total Whole time
equivalent (WTE)
105.10
94.87
74.65
Total
Headcount
154
116
84
4 & 5 Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) staff are required to record all
incidents onto an IT system (Datix) against predefined categories. The categorisation
of incidents is subject to interpretation by the person reporting the incident or inputting
the data. Following a review of all complaints using the search category “blood tests”,
for the period 1st April 2013 to 30th March 2015, there have been 30 concerns.
However we are unable to determine whether any specifically relate to blood testing or
blood test errors.
6. It is impossible to provide individual test costs as they are procured as part of a Health
Board wide managed service contract. The total number of tests in Blood Sciences
done annually is between £6.5-7.0 million. The total cost of providing the Blood
Sciences service is around £12M (pay and non-pay). The following table illustrates the
number of tests undertaken across BCUHB in March 2015, with an average 12 month
figure also given.
Test Name
Full blood count
Liver function test
C-reactive protein (CRP)
Thyroid function test
Urea and electrolytes
Glucose Random (Plasma)
March 2015 12 month average
54045
648540
36896
442752
28039
336468
14285
171420
11493
137916
11094
133128
Ferritin
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate
Vitamin B12
Folate
International normalised ratio (INR)
dose
Glucose Fasting (Plasma)
8029
5987
5480
5246
96348
71844
65760
62952
1860
1798
22320
21576
7. Average turnaround within the laboratory for the vast majority of blood tests is less
than 60 minutes. The time taken from when the sample is collected to arrival at each
laboratory depends upon the location and urgency required. For example, samples
from the Emergency Department are sent to the laboratory via an air-tube system, and
over 70% of all samples are reported on the Welsh Clinical Portal within 60 minutes.
Samples taken in primary care / community settings are generally transported to each
laboratory within 6 hours, with the result available electronically within 3-4 hours of
arrival at the laboratory.
8. Provided in the table below are staff sickness levels for the pathology department over
the past 12 months; March 2014 to February 2015. Please note that it is not possible
to identify sickness at each of the locations specified therefore regions have been
selected as an alternative:
Across BCUHB *
3.95%
Central
5.60%
East
4.41%
West
4.42%
Total
4.55%
* Across BCUHB means employees who can have a base in more than one location.
9.
All confidential paper waste is shredded and recycled – this includes between 2-3
million sample request forms per annum.
10. We do not record specific information in relation to the disposal of blood samples, this
waste is disposed of with all other clinical waste. However, under our obligation to
advise and assist we can advise that based on figures known to go for autoclave, it is
approximately £4,285 per annum.