While the wait may be over soon for some, others will have to hold tight until June to see their local Pathlab clinics reopen.

Pathlab clinics at Greerton, Ōtūmoetai, and Mount Maunganui remain temporarily closed due to staff shortages. Meanwhile, Katikati and Te Puke's clinics remain operating under reduced hours.

This has led to Pathlab users contacting The Weekend Sun to voice their frustrations at experiencing lengthy wait times at clinics.

Tauranga woman Susan Pehi-Neho visited the Cameron Rd Pathlab last month and reports waiting 90 minutes for blood tests. 'People are just hanging around outside and they're waiting in their cars, so you go in and they say to you: ‘It's an hour and a half, or two hours [to wait]'.”

Kerin Estment uses Katikati Pathlab, visiting at least every three months for blood and stool samples for her diabetes and Crohn's disease. 'They [Katikati Pathlab] only open three days a week and as a result, waiting times are long,” says Kerin. 'They only do routine blood tests until a certain time on these three days so late-afternoon appointments are out of the question.”

Reopening plan

This is set to change however, with Pathlab chief executive officer Dianne McQueen laying out their clinic re-opening plan. 'Early-March, Katikati will resume to being open five days a week, Greerton facility will re-open mid-April followed by Te Puke resuming their five-day status at the end of May, with Mount Maunganui to open mid-June. Our goal is to ensure that once we re-open a room, we will have the staffing levels to guarantee we can keep the room open.” Susan's concern at the Cameron Rd clinic is the seating arrangements. 'I had to give my seat up several times for the older people or visibly unwell because they don't have enough seating – and the issue is if you wait in your car, you can't tell if your numbers been called... I just feel it's a real let down to the service for our people.” She also worries for those with disabilities using Pathlab services.

Dianne says: 'Staff are constantly checking that patients waiting are provided chairs especially the elderly or pregnant patients”.

Susan says the staff look pretty stressed.

'For my husband and I, the staff are amazing and they're doing the best they can – but you can see that they're under pressure.”

New recruits

Dianne says Pathlab has 'calculated staffing numbers to accommodate the average resignation rate we still have, along with the current trainees transitioning through their required three-month programme”.

The staged rollout of clinics re-opening will coincide with this recruitment process and training programmes. Dianne says they started three recruits last month, are taking on eight recruits for March, and interviewing four more recruits for the April intake.

Dianne says Pathlab continues with their recruitment drive to attract more staff too.

'A Phlebotomy Open Day we recently advertised for, saw an overwhelming response with more than 200 expressions of interest, and 120 now registered to attend across four sessions.

'We are very much looking forward to having all our facilities open again to reduce wait times, patient frustration and pressure on our staff.”