Having a blood test (Easy Read)

Your doctor or nurse has asked you to have a blood test at Kingston Hospital.

You will have your blood test in the hospital's Phlebotomy Department. 'Phlebotomy' means blood tests.

A blood test means we take a small amount of your blood and test it.

When we test it, it helps us to decide the best way to look after your health.

You may have to sit in a waiting room until we are ready to give you your test.

We will help you during the test. 

The test usually takes about xx minutes.

We usually take the blood from your arm. Sometimes we take it from your hand.

If you are wearing long sleeves, we may ask you to roll them up.

To start the test we will put a stretchy band around your arm. It may feel a little bit tight, but it is not dangerous.

We will clean your arm with a wipe. 

We can give you some cream for your skin. It helps your skin feel numb and it will stop you feeling the blood test.

We will put a small needle into your arm. You will feel a scratch on your arm when we do this.

Try to sit as still as you can during the test.

We will use the needle to take a small amount of blood from your arm.

We put your blood into a special tube so that it can be tested by an expert.

When we have taken the blood, we will take out the needle out of your arm.

We will put a plaster over the place where the needle was.

Sometimes the plaster is made of a cotton pad and some tape.

Usually the plaster only needs to stay on for 30 minutes.