Basingstoke and north hampshire hospital pathology user handbook

Cellular Pathology –

Routine service 09.00 – 17.15

On call service: An on call service is available at the discretion of the Department Manager and the Consultant Pathologist

Please contact the department via switchboard

Mortuary –

Routine service Mon – Fri 08.00 – 16.00

On call service at all other times including weekends

Pathology Supplies

At the BNHFT a ward top-up system is operated by supplies. Additional stock may be ordered and collected directly from pathology stores during core hours.
Outside BNHFT orders can be made by fax, email or writing. These are dispatched as promptly as possible. However, please allow three working days for delivery. Urgent orders may be dispatched the same day within working hours. Service users are advised not to hoard supplies as stock is date-coded and issued on a rotational basis. For further information please contact Pathology reception.
Electronic Requesting Through ICE ordercomms

Internal Hospital Test Requests

Please follow the instruction detailed in the Trust standard operating procedure TP-GEN-ICEREQUEST, located on the Intranet, for requesting all Pathology tests. In the event of system failure please revert to the paper based request card system.

GP Test Requests

Please follow your local systems operating guide for requesting tests through the ICE system. There are 4 general GP systems covered, these are:- EMIS LV, EMIS PCS, VISION INPS & ISOFT. For EMIS LV, EMIS PCS & VISION Systems the ICE requesting procedure can be located on the GP section of the Trust Website.

http://www.northhampshire.nhs.uk/gps-doctors/referral-guidance/-useful-information/gp-e-requesting/

If an interruption occurs with ICE then please revert to the paper request form as supplied

Request cards

The request card is a crucial document. It is usually the only link between the laboratory staff and the ward staff or general practitioner responsible for a patient on whom a test has been requested. For efficient processing, all the information requested must be given in a legible form. Accurate patient identification is obviously of vital importance and wherever possible, please use a computer printed patient label on cards or pots. Most computer labels are not suitable for use on blood tubes as they cause jams in the processing equipment. This is not the case however with those GP practices that print 2-dimensional bar coded patient ID labels when the small labels associated can be used on blood tubes without problems

Requests for pathology tests will NOT be accepted unless there are three matching points of identification on both sample and request card. Acceptable data includes Full name, date of birth, NHS number, Hospital number or first line of the address. Incomplete or discrepant requests will be rejected and the requesting doctor informed. Laboratory staff are not authorised to make changes to cards or samples. NOTE there are slightly different and more stringent requirements for Blood Transfusion. Please specify specimen collection time and date on all samples and request cards.
Clinical information is essential for validation and interpretation of results and to enable initiation of further investigations where appropriate. If insufficient information is given, the Consultant Pathologists reserve the right to decline to perform the requested test.
Request cards must be signed by a doctor or requesting practitioner. Please print your name at the bottom of the request form to ensure that you can be contacted promptly with significant results or problems. And finally, we can always perform tests but it is very difficult to send back reports if you don’t say who the consultant/GP is and where.
Therefore the following legible information is required on the request card:

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