A new clinic is opening in Farnborough Common after it was announced the blood test unit at Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) is being scrapped.

The clinic, which will operate for five days a week, will open in October at the Summercroft Surgery, serving patients who live close to the hospital.

This comes after Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) announced phlebotomy services would be relocated from the PRUH to community services over winter fears.

The space used for blood-taking is being transformed into a discharge lounge to help with patient flow.

An updated statement from Bromley CCG read: "The Bromley GP Alliance will also be significantly expanding their services at Dysart and Ballater Surgeries to meet the demand in the Bromley and Orpington areas.

"Walk-in clinics will continue to be available at Orpington Hospital and Beckenham Beacon and many GP surgeries will continue to offer phlebotomy services to their patients.

"Outpatients and children aged 12 and under, will continue to have their blood tests take at the PRUH, and housebound patients will continue to have their blood taken where they live.

"The CCG is aware that many people travel further than a mile to the PRUH for phlebotomy services and by providing extra locations across the borough we aim to ease demand on any single clinic.

"Therefore, the service at Dysart, in Bromley town centre, will be extended from two mornings to a five-day-week clinic. An additional day will be added to Ballater Surgery in Orpington which is also an area of high demand for phlebotomy and provides an alternative to the Orpington Hospital walk-in clinic."

Not everyone is pleased with the relocation of blood services and Kath Lucken, 67, described it as a worrying sign.

She said: "We can go to Orpington for blood tests but it is always busy.

"Then there’s the Beckenham Beacon which has a tiny car park and you have to park a couple of streets away."

The resident, who lives nearby the hospital, added that she doesn’t know how the hospital is coping.

Bromley CCG said the move will "free up vital hospital space for essential services" and will reduce the risk of infections with less people entering the hospital.

They also added that more car parking spaces will now be available.