More than three quarters of all medical diagnoses rely on laboratory investigations.
The department carries out over six and a half million tests each year. Most tests carried out by laboratory scientists are done on blood, urine or other fluid or tissue samples. Within these are some routine tests that are performed in very large numbers and others which are rare and complex.
Directorate of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Specimen Transport Protocol (pdf, 500 KB)
This is a controlled document.
The master copy of this document is held on iPassport. This document must not be copied or altered without express permission from appropriate management teams. This document will be reviewed on a regular, scheduled basis.
January 2023 - Biochemistry update
Biochemistry is changing the blood collection tubes used for adults' routine biochemistry investigations from lithium heparin plasma to serum. There is no clinically significant difference other than slightly higher reference intervals for potassium and phosphate.
Please do not overstock lithium heparin plasma tubes and increase your stock of the serum BD SST II Advance tubes (NHS stock item KFK 114).
This will not affect paediatric tubes.
Tube guide
Tube Guide and Recommended Order of Draw (pdf, 347 KB)
Paediatric Tube Collection Guide (pdf, 110 KB)
A guide for successful collection of blood specimens is available here:
Tips for blood collection