Now this is just plain scary

Labtests were fairly recently (can't remember exactly when) appointed as the main lab doing blood tests and stuff like that. To date they have not been very popular and many people complain about the service they get - things like slow service, results taking a very long time, incorrect results being sent out, results not forwarded to all the relevant parties and so on. I felt a bit anxious when I recently had to take Caitlyn for a blood test and thought at the time that it wasn't too bad. They were very busy on that day, but our wait wasn't too long and the results were ready pretty quickly. Of course it helps when you say we need the results urgently because your other daughter is immuno-compromised and depending on the results we might find ourselves in a risky situation.

Today I read an article in the New Zealand Herald where a patient was referred to Labtests for further tests when the GP saw an irregularity on an x-ray. Their initial feedback - no signs of cancer. When the patient requested that they re-test the sample that was sent, but at another different lab, it turned out that it was cancer and much worse than they initially thought. How on earth can a lab miss vital information like this? Often with cancer, timing is everything. You simply don't have a lot of time to sit and waste.

The scary thing for us is, that if we are ever told to get a blood test for Bianca done outside of Starship Children's Hospital - we'll need to go to Labtests because that is what their contract is all about. What if Bianca's results ate simply not correct because they messed up? Could I truly ever trust that the results are indeed correct? How do you trust somebody who keeps making mistake after mistake after mistake? It is so scary I tell you.