| Hours of Service
The department is open routinely from 0800 to 1730 hours Monday to Friday with a limited, extended operation through to 2000 hrs weekdays. All other periods are covered by the on call service. For further details see “Out-of-hours service”.
Laboratory Organisation
The laboratory is divided into automated and manual sections, offering about one hundred and fifty tests in house, which covers over 99% of requests. We also have access to a network of specialist referral laboratories offering a further range of three hundred or so tests. A clinical justification must be given for all tests, especially in the case of referred tests. If adequate clinical information is not provided, the Consultant may decline to carry out the investigation.
The laboratory is extensively equipped with state-of-the-art analysers, enabling a greater range of tests to be performed on a daily basis and making other tests more readily available for the emergency on-call service. A further advantage is that smaller blood samples are required for most investigations.
“Profile requesting” in which large groups of tests are performed routinely and uncritically has been clearly shown to be at best unhelpful and at worst to increase morbidity by prompting unnecessary invasive procedures. Tests should be requested individually and for a purpose.
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