As part of the ongoing construction works for the new hospital building, the phlebotomy (blood taking) service at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) will be relocating next month.

The service will move from Elizabeth House at RSH to nearby William Farr House, Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury, SY3 8XL, from Tuesday 27 August.

At the new location, William Farr House, there will be additional, larger clinical rooms with convenient parking for patients provided outside the building. There are also bus stops on the main road for patients using public transport.

We would like to assure you that we are doing all that we can to minimise disruption whilst work starts on the build of a new four storey hospital expansion as part of the Hospitals Transformation Programme (HTP).

The last patients will be seen at Elizabeth House on Thursday 22 August. There will be signage in place directing patients to William Farr House for their blood tests.

The online booking site –  Book a blood test online – SaTH – is now taking bookings for blood tests at William Farr House from Tuesday 27 August.

I would like to thank patients for their patience and understanding while the phlebotomy service move takes place and also the relocation of the outpatient entrance.

To maintain hospital operations, the entrance to outpatients is now closed and the Treatment Centre is the main entrance to the hospital during the works. All other entrances will remain open.

A new entrance has been made available for the public to enter the hospital with car parking opposite, car park zone 3. Entrance 3 leads to RSH Level 0 (basement services).

Signage is in place at the hospital to help patients and visitors navigate their way around the site and colleagues will be on hand to direct and answer patient and visitor queries.

Patients and visitors should continue to check our Trust’s website for the most up-to-date information on accessing the hospital and for parking arrangements.

At our Trust, we are always seeking to achieve a high standard of patient care and experience and we are always looking for people to help us with this vision.

If you are passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), we would encourage you to join our EDI Advocates Group.

For some people in the UK, there are still unfair and avoidable inequalities in their health and in their access to and experiences of NHS services.

Our Trust wants to address these inequalities to meet, and exceed, our patients cultural and specific health concerns.

As a member of the EDI Advocates Group, you would work collaboratively to support and challenge SaTH in identifying existing health inequalities and develop action plans to tackle and eliminate such issues.

The ultimate aim is to ensure everyone at our Trust has a great patient experience, no matter their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

If you would like more information, or an application form, please contact my colleague Claire Eagleton (Claire.eagleton@nhs.net) Lead Nurse/ AHP for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.