A PROBLEM with the IT system in Leeds hospitals has led to delays in blood tests and medical procedures in Bradford.

The Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the city’s hospitals, uses Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust facilities to carry out blood tests, as do a number of GPs in the Bradford district.

But over the past week, a major glitch in the computer system has led to delays in getting the results of these tests, meaning some patients are having non-emergency procedures re-scheduled.

Bradford has not been as badly affected as Leeds, although the Bradford trust is reviewing patients’ treatments and having to prioritise the most serious cases.

It may not be until early next week that the problem is fixed.

Suzanne Hinchliffe, Chief Nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: “We are making good progress in tackling the serious issues affecting our ability to deliver a full pathology service.

“The situation is challenging but improving and we expect to be able to report improvement early next week after we have tested the work undertaken with our external partners to restore our system.

“Currently, we are working with our GP colleagues, asking them to prioritise urgent tests and the plan is that from Tuesday GPs will be able to request routine blood tests using other providers as a contingency measure until we are back up and running.

“GPs have not been asked to refrain from sending all bloods, we have asked them to prioritise clinically and refrain from sending routine bloods.

“Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is also using other providers for their blood testing.”

A spokesman for the Bradford trust said: “We can confirm that we have been affected by the significant problems with the Leeds pathology IT system and we are working closely with Leeds Teaching Hospitals regarding the solution.

“To ensure patient safety we are clinically reviewing all patients and prioritising urgent and emergency cases.

“Unfortunately this means some more routine procedures may have to be re-scheduled. Any patients who are affected will be contacted directly and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We are working closely with neighbouring trusts to secure additional pathology capacity which enables us to continue to process as many tests as possible.”

When contacted, the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust was unable to confirm if the issue had affected its hospitals.