Completion of request form and specimen ID
In order for us to provide you with a quality service, it is important that you provide us with a completed request form to include:
• Patient’s full name - first name and surname
• Date of birth
• Hospital MPI number (if known)
• Sample collection time and date
• Type of sample and, if appropriate, anatomical site
• Relevant clinical information
Self-adhesive address labels will be accepted on request forms. However, we discourage their use on specimen bottles and containers and we cannot accept samples for blood transfusion unless the information has been hand-written.
Where multi-part request forms are used, please ensure that a label is affixed to each copy of the form and that ball-point pen is used to complete the form.
Each request accepted by the laboratory for examination(s) shall be considered an agreement.
More information
If additional tests are required for a sample that we have already received, please contact the laboratory at the earliest opportunity with your request as samples are not kept indefinitely.
It is important that your request forms contain full clinical details. This important information enables us to interpret the significance of results and ensure that we provide you with the appropriate interpretive comments and age and/or sex-related reference ranges.
Specimens may not be suitable for testing if they are inadequately labelled or if they have leaked or been contaminated. In these circumstances every effort will be made to inform the requesting clinician before discarding the specimen. In the case of a ‘precious’ sample which has been incompletely labelled, analysis will be carried out at the discretion of the laboratory manager and the report annotated with a comment about the labelling.
We will process your request urgently when you indicate that this is appropriate.
Please advise us to expect an urgent sample by telephoning the laboratory. Please send urgent samples in a red bag.