PATIENTS at Queen Elizabeth Hospital are having to endure waits of up to three hours for their blood tests.

Mum-of-two Dale Turkmen, 33, of Delafield Road, Charlton, says the delays are being caused by a broken machine which is meant to hand out numbered tickets to patients.

The shocked mum-of-two, who has regular tests there, has contacted Woolwich and Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford about the issue.

She said: “It’s bad enough when the machine is working but sick, elderly and disabled people are having to wait three hours.

“After that amount of time you come out of there feeling worse than when you went in.”

Official hospital advice is to leave 15 minutes for your test, but some patients are being required to wait 12 times that long.

South London Healthcare Trust, which runs the hospital, is now advising people to visit other centres instead to cut down on their queueing time.

Those who live near Bexley are being advised to travel to Sidcup’s Queen Mary’s hospital instead and the general advice is that afternoons are far less busy.

But Ms Turkmen said: “What if people can’t go elsewhere? It’s hard enough when you’re sick to go to your local hospital anyway.”

A spokesman for the trust said: “The trust is aware that patients at the Queen Elizabeth site are experiencing long waits for their blood tests to take place.

“The current staffing levels are being reviewed and interviews are taking place shortly to appoint more phlebotomists to the service.”