Venepuncture (Phlebotomy) Update Training
for Primary Care

📅 Duration: 3 hours (half-day)

🎓 Accreditation: ✅ CPD Accredited

👩‍⚕️ Audience: Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates, HCAs, GPAs and healthcare professionals already performing venepuncture in practice

🏥 Format: Available live online or face-to-face at your organisation

👥 Group Size: Up to 10 delegates

A healthcare professional preparing to extract blood from a patient's arm.

Phlebotomy Refresher Course for Nurses

Course Details:

Venepuncture remains one of the most commonly performed clinical procedures across healthcare settings and plays a vital role in diagnosis, monitoring and ongoing patient management. This update course refreshes learners’ knowledge of safe blood collection, infection prevention, ANTT, patient communication, vein selection, blood bottles, sharps safety and complication management within modern clinical practice.

The session also reinforces the importance of accountability, consent, positive patient identification and working within local policies and scope of competence. Poor technique or unsafe practice can lead to failed samples, patient distress, delayed diagnosis, contamination, sharps injuries and avoidable harm. This course supports safer, more confident venepuncture practice within primary care, community and healthcare environments.

Millions of blood tests are carried out across the NHS every year, making venepuncture one of the most frequently performed invasive clinical procedures in UK healthcare. Accurate sample collection is essential to support safe diagnosis, treatment and monitoring.

Learning Outcomes: Refreshing Phlebotomy Skills for Professionals

By the end of this CPD-accredited course, participants will be able to:

Describe accountability, consent, and capacity requirements when performing venepuncture.
Apply infection prevention principles including ANTT, correct skin preparation, and equipment safety.
Identify appropriate veins using anatomical knowledge and clinical judgement.
Select correct equipment, including needle gauge, holders, and blood bottles.
Perform venepuncture safely with effective tourniquet use, correct order of draw, and accurate documentation.
Recognise, prevent, and manage complications such as nerve injury, arterial puncture, haematoma, and vasovagal events.
Demonstrate patient-centred communication, reassurance, and support throughout the procedure