Biochemistry
BIOCHEMISTRY AT UNILABS UK
We offer a wide range of tests and investigations. Our team and Consultant Biochemists are available to provide clinical advice. To contact them, please call our office on 020 7121 6340.
COMPLETION OF REQUEST FORM AND SPECIMEN ID
In order for us to provide you with a quality service, it is important that we receive a completed request form including:
- Patient’s forename and surname
- Date of birth
- Patient sex
- Hospital number (if known)
- Sample collection time and date
- Tests requested
- Client Code/information
- Type of sample and, if appropriate, anatomical site (Specimen source may be particularly important for microbiology specimens)
- Clinical information relevant to the request
- Requesting clinician name and, if appropriate, contact number
Self-adhesive address labels will be accepted on request forms. However, unless previously approved by the laboratory, we discourage their use on specimen bottles and containers as they are often not compatible with our technology.
ADD-ON TESTING
If additional tests are required on a sample that we have already received, please contact the laboratory at the earliest opportunity. We store samples for up to 7 days but whether we are able to perform additional tests will depend on analyte stability.
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.
REJECTION
Specimens may not be suitable for testing if they are inadequately labelled or if they have leaked or been contaminated or if they are too old. In these circumstances every effort will be made to inform the requesting clinician before discarding the sample. For ‘precious’ samples, such as CSF, analysis will be carried out at the discretion of the laboratory manager and the report annotated with a comment.
The sample label must contain at least 2 unique patient identifiers; patient full name (Surname and Forename) and Date of Birth or Hospital number.
URGENT SAMPLES
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.