Haematology
Service
The Haematology Laboratory aims to provide a comprehensive routine and emergency diagnostic service. In the interests of efficiency and effectiveness the service is delivered with the majority of investigations being performed in-house wherever numbers, service demands and costs allow. We are dedicated to providing the best analytical service possible. To this end there are always people available to offer advice, assistance with interpretation and help in deciding on further investigations. In the same vein, further tests will be cascaded where it is practical and will help the investigation.
The role of the Haematology laboratory is to investigate haematological disorders including those which affect the white cells, red cells, platelets and haemostasis.
Staffing
Haematology is a Consultant led service with scientific and technical laboratory staff always available to answer queries and provide advice within their scope of practice.
Advice
Day to day advice can be obtained by contacting the Laboratory. Where clinical advice is required the Consultant Haematologist or Haematology registrar may be contacted.
Laboratory Hours
The laboratory is staffed to provide 24hr a day service with the following patterns:
Monday to Friday:
7am – 9am Single staff member on duty
9am – 5pm ‘Core hours’ where most staff are on duty including senior staff
5pm – 10pm Reduced staff numbers
10pm – 7am Single staff member on duty
Weekends/Bank Holidays: – Single staff member on duty
Key Telephone numbers
| Haematology Consultant or Registrar on call | Contact via bleep |
| Dr Yogesh Upadhye, Clinical Head of department | Contact via bleep |
| Dr Annette Nicolle, Deputy head of department | Contact via bleep |
| Nicola Keepin, BHI Departmental Manager | 0191 445 5611 |
| Haematology and Blood Transfusion Laboratory | QEH – Vocera
SRH – 0191 569 9085 STH – 0191 404 1044 |
Test Repertoire
A searchable list is available in the Tests section of the website. This section will give details of tests available, collection details, reference ranges and units, telephone criteria, turnaround times and any appropriate comments. Certain tests may require clinical authorisation prior to release of results or the addition of further investigations.
Where tests are not performed on-site these will be indicated as ‘Referred’ and the turnaround times will be listed as those given by the referral laboratory whenever available. In the absence of this information it may be based on experience and hence may be an approximation.
The referral centres employed by SoTW Clinical Laboratory Services are selected based upon their UKAS accreditation status and their ability to meet the needs of our users. The laboratory periodically reviews the quality of these referral centres. Referred tests are indicated within the turnaround section of each individual Tests listing.
If you cannot locate any test or there is insufficient detail in this section, then please contact the laboratory.
Should you require a test to be processed urgently, please contact the laboratory directly prior to sending samples.
Requesting
Where available, all requests should be made using the appropriate electronic ordering system:
Meditech Order Management – CHS and South Tyneside Hospital requests
Clinisys ICE – GH Hospital requests, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland CCGs
To find out how to request on Sunquest ICE, please follow this link: ICE Training Manual.pdf
To find out how to request on Meditech Order Management, please contact the IT department at STSFT.
Samples sent to the laboratory must include the following:
- Surname
- Forename (full name given and not a dimunitive)
- Date of Birth
- Unit/NHS Number where possible
- Consultant or GP
- Ward or Surgery
- Request(s)
On manual/ICE request forms a contact or bleep number is extremely useful. Samples sent from GP practices should also include up to date contact information for the patient (e.g. telephone number and home address) so that the deputising service is able to deal effectively with grossly abnormal results when necessary. It is imperative that the tests required are detailed on the request.
It is extremely important for relevant Clinical Details to be included on the request. This helps us to help you by giving advice and interpretation where necessary and to add other useful tests when indicated. The date and time the sample is taken should also be included. This is essential when interpreting certain tests.
All samples must be labelled with the sample label. Samples should also be taken into the correct type of tube, if in doubt refer to the Tests page or contact the Laboratory for advice. Ideally a separate sample for each department is required but there are exceptions to the rule, e.g. patients very difficult to bleed, neonates.
To safeguard patients against wrong treatment, samples with discrepant details will NOT be processed and the requesting source will be notified. In cases where there are no details on the sample (unlabelled) a repeat will be requested, and the sample will be discarded.
Additional tests may be added to samples held in the department if appropriate to do so. Please note, tests which require informed consent cannot be processed as add on requests, i.e. Haemoglobinopathy screening. Justification may be required for some tests, in these cases the sample will be held for a reasonable length of time to allow contact with requestor and/or Haematology consultant.
Haematology samples are kept for 24hrs from receipt. Additional test requests may only be accepted if received within the stability time for the specified assay.
For instructions for preparation of patient (see Tests)
Any factors known to significantly affect the performance of the examination or the interpretation of results are contained within the Tests.
All High Risk or Hazardous samples MUST be double bagged and marked as such with Danger of Infection labels. They should never be sent to the laboratory in the pneumatic air tube system. Please hand deliver them to the Laboratory wherever possible
Reference Ranges
All reported numerical results are accompanied by an appropriate age and gender-related reference range where this is applicable.
Adult reference ranges are given in the Tests section where appropriate
Abnormal Results
Abnormal results which fall within the defined telephone criteria will be communicated to the requestor. Telephone criteria is available within the Tests section.
Where it is deemed appropriate comments and suggestions will be appended to the report, and further tests added.
Measurement Uncertainty (MU)
Measurement Uncertainty values have been determined and applied to Haematology and Blood Transfusion assays for both normal range and critical limits. Link to uncertainty of measurement values
Blood
Refer to assay table for sample requirements.
Turnaround Times
The “Routine” haematology tests are analysed on receipt which gives a turnaround time in the laboratory as given in the Tests section. These are expected ROUTINE turnaround times at times of normal laboratory function.
URGENT samples can be turned around in less than 90 minutes (may be longer to include check, repeat and cascade analysis). This turnaround time is reduced to 60 minutes for Emergency Care samples.
Some Haematology investigations done in-house will be batched and analysed at varying times depending on numbers, cost and ease of analysis.
Where tests are referred to a reference Laboratory turnaround times are dependent on the referral Laboratory. This means that turnaround can vary between 2 days to several weeks depending on the test (contact the Laboratory for any specific enquiry).
The referral centres employed by SoTW Clinical Laboratory Services are selected based upon their UKAS accreditation status and their ability to meet the needs of our users. The laboratory periodically reviews the quality of these referral centres. Referred tests are indicated within the turnaround section of each individual test listing.
Where repeat analyses or further tests are cascaded, the turnaround may be delayed.
There is flexibility in the analysis schedule and the Laboratory is always willing to try and accommodate specific requests for faster turnaround times. When assays are not done in-house we will also try and intercede with the Referral Laboratory where there is an urgent requirement for the result. Please contact the Laboratory.
Quality Assurance
The Laboratory endeavours to make quality a fundamental component of all its work, and to continually monitor its performance and improve deficiencies.
All analyses are subject to internal quality control procedures, involving analysis of “QC” samples with known values to check that the analysis remains accurate and precise.
In addition all analyses are subject to External Quality Assurance procedures involving the blind analysis of samples distributed from nationally recognised Reference Centres. These allow the accuracy and precision of this Laboratory’s results to be compared with other laboratories in the country and with reference values.
The Laboratory performance in External Quality Assurance is available on line.
The Department is accredited to ISO15189:2022; our full scope of accreditation is published on the UKAS website.
The laboratory welcomes feedback from its users, there is a Pathology User Committee who meet quarterly where users may attend or feedback any issues or improvement ideas for discussion. The committee may be contacted via ghnt.pathologyuser@nhs.net or feedback may be submitted via the survey link below:
South of Tyne & Wear Pathology Centre
