NHS halts non-urgent blood tests after 'supply chain crisis'

NHS halts all non-urgent and routine blood tests for three weeks after ‘supply chain crisis’

• Screening for pre-diabetes, allergies and certain blood disorders is paused 
• Covid testing and border issues have led to a shortfall in necessary test tubes 
• Britain has been blighted with supply chain issues across multiple industries 

Hundreds of patients could miss out on blood tests over the next three weeks because of a shortage of test tubes, it has been revealed.

American medical company Becton Dickinson, which makes vials for the NHS, announced serious supply chain issues across the UK.

And NHS England and Wales both issued guidance to doctors to stagger regular tests for non-urgent conditions including screening for pre-diabetes, allergies and certain blood disorders.

The NHS has also paused some fertility testing but vital screening for life-threatening illnesses including cancer and HIV will continue as normal.

Demand for tubes for Covid testing coupled with a lack of lorry drivers and UK border challenges have led to the shortfall, Becton Dickinson said. 

Britain has been blighted with supply chain issues across multiple industries, with gaps seen on supermarket shelves and McDonald’s running out of milkshakes.

Retailers today called on the government to issue temporary visas for EU workers to plug a lorry driver shortage that threatens to disrupt Christmas.

Hundreds of patients could miss out on blood tests over the next three weeks because of a shortage of test tubes, it has been revealed

A lack of lorry drivers and food processors is being partly blamed on the new Brexit visa regime introduced on January 1, which penalises lower-skilled migrants in favour of those with qualifications. 

But global factors are relevant too, bosses say, including Chinese port closures and a lack of shipping containers. US Vice President Kamala Harris urged Americans to buy Christmas toys early due to a shortage there. 

Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, told MailOnline Britain has so far been unable to shake its dependency on EU workers who have been leaving due to the pandemic.

The supply of new workers is also being held back by stricter visa rules introduced on January 1.

The most common complaint among UK retailers and food producers is the shortage of lorry drivers, which the Road Haulage Association currently puts at 100,000.

Thousands of prospective drivers are waiting for their HGV tests due to a backlog caused by lockdown, while many existing ones have left the UK after Brexit or to be back with their families during Covid.

Importers are also suffering a financial hit, with dramatically rising transport costs caused by a global lack of shipping containers and a slowdown in freight movements resulting from port closures.

Chinese authorities recently shut Ningbo-Zhoushan port, which is one of the world’s largest container terminals, due to a Covid outbreak.

Gary Grant, founder and executive chairman of toy chain the Entertainer, said the cost of shipping a container from Asia had increased from $1,700 to more than $13,000 (£8,000) over the past year.

The NHS guidance said GPs should ‘reduce non-essential (non-clinically urgent) testing’.

This includes stopping vitamin D testing except in exceptional circumstances and deferring routine infertility testing unless the patient is over the age of 35.

It also says allergy testing is ‘not a priority at this time’ unless there is clinical need, and that routine wellness screening is ‘not a priority’.

The guidance also advises against stockpiling tubes.

It says: ‘Clinicians and local pathology laboratories should review their current local practices in line with this guidance with a view to reducing the number of tests and impacted products used without impacting on urgent care.’

The Covid pandemic has led to a shortage of tubes for blood testing — which use many of the same raw materials and components as those used for PCR testing in laboratories.

And this has been exacerbated by a backlog of routine blood testing that hospitals are now trying to catch up with.

Becton Dickinson told the BBC it has faced ‘continued transportation challenges’ on top of the issues caused by Covid.

A spokesperson said: ‘Suppliers are also challenged to meet increased demand for raw materials and components.

‘We are balancing the frequency of preventive maintenance leading to plant shutdown to provide continuing supply of products, and we are working closely with our raw material suppliers, transport agencies and other necessary third parties to minimize supply disruptions.’

The Department of Health said: ‘Patient safety and continuity of care is our priority and we are working to ensure there is minimal possible impact on patient care.

‘The health and care system is working closely with BD to put mitigations in place to resolve any problems if they arise.’

It comes after The British Retail Consortium, which represents major retailers, urged business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to push for emergency measures to plug a shortfall of 90,000 lorry drivers.

Tesco chairman, John Allan, backed giving temporary visas to EU workers, while Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland, said lorry drivers should be added to the government’s essential and skilled workers list to allow those based abroad to apply for a ‘skilled worker visa’.

But ministers are said to be against relaxing visa requirements in light of 4.7 per cent of the population remaining unemployed, according to the latest figure from the Office of National Statistics.

‘They [retailers] know what the answer is, it’s just expensive,’ a Whitehall source told The Times. ‘There are millions of people unemployed and 90,000 vacancies. They need to pay more and offer training. Government is not going to budge on that.’

Coral Rose, Boss of Country Range group, a wholesaler that supplies catering products for schools, care homes and schools, said issues facing the food service sector were ‘getting worse’.

‘The shortage of drivers is the key issue,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘We’re taking drastic action like buying smaller delivery vehicles because there is going to be increased pressure when schools reopen and people return to their offices.

‘So the office is going to get worse. We would like the government to introduce a temporary visa scheme as a quick fix and then more training to increase the number of drivers in the longer term.’

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