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We recommend the use of the DX service, but any courier service or guaranteed first class post is acceptable.

NB: The DX service requires the sender to have a contract with DX. Further Information

The laboratory is staffed Monday to Friday 08:30 to 17:30 and on Saturday for the unpacking and labelling of samples, which will be placed in cold-storage until the next working day.

Before sending samples please check that:

1. The sample is of the correct type,
2. The sample is correctly labelled and has the full address of the company as well as the post code,
3. The sample is correctly packaged.

Please be aware that it is the responsibility of the sender to comply with safety regulations when transporting material.

We offer an 8-hour service from receipt of clinical specimens for double the normal sample analysis price. Please enquire BEFORE requesting this service; we may be able to offer a routine assay that is as fast on the day and will cost no extra.

At weekends, please telephone to arrange urgent analysis. We place a weekend premium on our charges for urgent analysis; please enquire by telephone if you are considering using this service.

Yes, all clients or prospective clients are very welcome to visit our laboratory.

To arrange a visit, please contact us.

There are now a number of options for the method of receiving results.

1. Pre-specified email with a PDF attachment.
2. Through email as a link to our client portal. (Not yet functional)
   This helps to keep results secure as it will require users to sign in before viewing, as opposed to sending a PDF to a shared mailbox.
3. Directly through the use of HL7 and our API. Please contact us to set this up.

Clinically important or relevant results will be telephoned as soon as the test operator enters them into LIMS.

Results sent through email are transmitted to users between 16:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday with the exception of any SARS CoV-2 test results from any pre-arranged weekend testing. These will be transmitted to users on Saturday or Sunday when results are approved.

For more information on this, please refer to the Laboratory User Handbook or call the office.

Sensitivity depends on the quality of the clinical sample and the test performed. We can give a measure of sensitivity in terms of organisms or genome copies detected, based on cell culture isolates of wild type virus or bacterial culture. Many molecular detection systems are more sensitive for clinical use than conventional culture methods because the organism does not have to remain viable to allow detection. Antibody assays may be measured in International Units.

All submitted specimens are processed with a nucleic acid extraction procedure that has been shown to overcome the potential inhibition of assays associated with clinical material. Urine samples however, may still contain enough inhibitors, even after extraction, to affect the detection of low levels of target nucleic acid. Please bear this in mind when considering results from urine samples e.g. Chlamydia trachomatis testing.

The laboratory is fully staffed Monday to Friday 08:30 to 17:30.
We also receive and store samples on Saturday morning and these will be processed on the next Monday.

Outside of these hours an on-call clinical advice service is always available.

For details of our quality assurances, please see Quality Assurance.