There is a Specimen Acceptance Policy introduced by the Pathology Department that specifies the criteria on which specimens will be accepted.
All specimens must be accompanied by the appropriate request form, which should contain patient's full name, date of birth, unique ID/NHS number, ward/GP code, collection date and time, and relevant clinical details. Remember to include the destination for the results and the four-letter code for your consultant/GP. The specimen should be clearly labelled with the blood collector's initials and collection date/time. Including diagnosis or minimal clinical details on request forms will enable the laboratory to assist interpretation and possibly perform relevant follow-up investigations.
Would General Practitioners please include a contact telephone number for the patient. This allows the deputizing services to act on critical results ascertained out of hours. The phone number will not be made available to anyone else outside of Pathology.
Specimens and request forms MUST be labelled with the patient's forename, surname and either the unique ID number/NHS number or date of birth - preferably both. The data on the specimen must match that on the request form.
When using Trust Addressograph labels, please use those with the full patient information including postal address, not the reduced version designed for internal use on wards.
Specimens for Blood Group and Cross-match require full identification after checking with the wrist ID bracelet - forename, surname, date of birth, district number and ward. Requests must be signed and dated. Ensure tubes are placed in the correct bag and sealed.
Histopathology/Cytology have more comprehensive criteria for specimen labelling and request form completion - please see the relevant section for details.
You may find the attached posters useful for Hospital or Primary Care specimens.
If attaching self adhesive patient labels to specimen tubes, please put them over the pre-existing label, otherwise they may cause obstruction within analyzers.