End of Saturday mail affects delivery of specimens and tests results for patients

Laboratory.Photo: Lise Åserud / Scanpix

Every week hundreds of patients get their test results late because there no longer is any mail delivery on Saturdays. Some specimens end up in the trash can because they can no longer be used.

The decision to end mail deliveries on Saturdays has consequences both for patients and for St. Olav’s Hospital,  Adresseavisen writes.
– For over 550 patients this means that the delivery of their test results is delayed every week,  Trond Jacobsen, head  of the laboratory medical clinic at St. Olav’s Hospital says. He also says that about two percent of the specimens that would otherwise be delivered to them by mail on Saturday, can not be used and has to be discarded. When they are stored along with other mail at the Post Office over the weekend, the analysis of the specimens will no longer give accurate answers.
– Since the reorganization on March 1, this has been the case with about 30 specimens. For some patients that means they have to retake the test and supply a new sample,  Jacobsen explains. A survey in December revealed that the hospital’s  that joint  specimen receiving station  at the hospital on average received  694 specimens on a Saturday.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today