General Information
Opening Hours:
- 9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m., including lunch hour, Monday to Friday
- 9.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m., including lunch hour, Monday to Friday for delivery of specimens for analysis.
Access to Service:
Laboratory investigations are carried out via request from Consultant Clinical Staff at St. John’s Hospital.
The Pathology Department also provide a service for laboratory testing to General Practitioners.
Patients and General Practitioners should deliver specimens to Pathology Reception between 9.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m., including lunch hour, Monday to Friday. Specimens should not be delivered outside of these hours.
Information for General Practitioners
Clinical details are essential for interpreting results and determining additional testing. Please supply as much clinical information as possible.
It is essential to deliver the samples to the laboratory as speedily as possible due to the labile nature of many of the components measured in the laboratory.
Samples for General Clinical Chemistry must arrive in the laboratory within 4 hours of sampling
Specimen and Request Form Requirements
Request Form – Mandatory Requirements
Pathology Request forms are available from the Pathology Department. The Request Form must contain sufficient information to uniquely identify the patient and the tests requested:
- Patient’s legal first name
- Patient’s surname
- Patient’s date of birth
- Patient’s full address
- Requesting Clinician/G.P.
- Location/Ward for communication of results
- Requested tests must be clearly stated
Request Form – Additional Information
The request form should contain:
- Date and time of collection
- Name of person drawing/collecting the specimen
- Relevant and appropriate clinical information, including medications
Sample –Mandatory Requirements
The laboratory requires that all submitted specimens be clearly labeled with a minimum of two patient identifiers
- Patient’s legal first name and surname
- Patient’s date of birth or Patient’s Hospital Number
Sample – Additional Requirements
- Date and time of sample collection
- Specimen source
Clinical Details and Tests Requested
The laboratory cannot process the sample unless:
- The sample and corresponding request form are unambiguously matched
- The tests requested are clearly specified
- The appropriate specimens are received for the requested tests
Access to Pathology Reports
The results of laboratory tests will be made available to patients through their Clinician or General Practitioner, not directly from the laboratory.
The result of routine examinations are normally available within 24 hours. More specialised investigations may take longer.
Results are posted to General Practitioners daily Monday to Friday.
It is the policy of the Pathology Department to telephone all urgent or abnormal results to the requesting clinician, subject to define criteria within each laboratory.
