Saving the NHS one blood test at a time

As a team of junior doctors our aim has been to save costs in day to day work so that money can be reallocated to improving nursing staff levels on our wards. Stem cell units have regular blood collection schedules in order to monitor organ response to chemotherapy and to look for complications in immunocompromised patients. We set out to reduce the number of biochemical investigations to a minimum that would be clinically indicated. We designed a new blood collection proforma for nursing staff to follow and audited all blood tests taken during a 2 week period before and after its introduction. The number of inappropriate blood tests were recorded as those that were not clinically indicated or not present on the collection schedule. After the introduction of the change the number of inappropriate tests were reduced by 937 over the 2 week period, with a cost saving of £1,478.42. Similar strategies for reducing unnecessary investigations and focusing on tests that will change management could help the NHS cope with a difficult financial future and provide continued safe staffing levels and quality care.