I must complain about the health care service in Brighton and Hove.

I am a nursing sister and my husband is a hospital consultant, which can only add weight to my point of view.

The blood test clinic is a total shambles. I am diabetic and attended the clinic after fasting for 14 hours on Wednesday, July 16.

I waited for three hours and then gave up and decided to try again another day.

On Friday, July 18 I tried again with the same waiting time and the same result.

This time I felt unwell, having not eaten for nearly 18 hours and asked the receptionist if she could speed me through as I had been sitting there for three hours.

I was informed that other people were fasting and they were okay (they were not okay but too ill to complain).

I then tried my own GP's, only to be told it was booked for at least two weeks but was advised to try the Hove Polyclinic, which does blood tests by appointment.

I tried it and was told there was at least a ten-day waiting list. I tried the GP again and was told by the receptionist that the practice would no longer be doing blood tests.

I suggested that if they gave me the appropriate equipment, my husband could do the blood test himself as he is a consultant anaesthetist.

But they refused because they do not hand out syringes and needles.

My husband rang the surgery to speak to the GP. He was not answering his door or his phone.

We left a message for him to ring us when his surgery was finished that day. He never rang.

Just what the hell have you got to do to get a blood test?

It only takes a couple of minutes.

Back to the blood test clinic. Knowing it's done on a first-come-first-served basis, I arrived before it opened, along with the rest of Brighton. My blood was taken at 11.30am after a two-and-a-half hour wait.

I saw old people told to go to Brighton General as the clinic was too busy to accommodate them and people feeling unwell and leaving.

The phlebotomists did as good a job as was possible but they were clearly distressed at having so many patients.

There were only two of them and it is not fair to expect them to work like this.

The sustem needs total reorganisation.

-Mrs Heather Noble, Hove