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Pathology and Laboratories

Warning alert box New Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) - March 2025

OUH Blood Sciences (Immunology, Biochemistry and Haematology) and Microbiology Laboratories will move to a new Laboratory Information Management System on Monday 17 March 2025.

We will keep disruption to a minimum, but there will be a period of downtime for all users on Monday 17 March and there may be some minor delays to results return for all clinical users in the days following go-live.

GP requesting and results reporting systems will be offline from Saturday 15 March at 2.00pm until Monday 17 March at 9.00am, after which there will be some changes to results display and naming of tests.

For further information for GPs please see:

OUH Laboratory Information Management System replacement (pdf, 226 KB)

OUH staff please visit the SharePoint intranet: South 4 LIMS Project.

Laboratory investigations are essential for almost every patient who comes into contact with the hospitals and an increasing number of patients receiving treatment in the community.

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, 464 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.

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

Our laboratory services

For external organisations ordering tests from us: please note that, by sending us a sample and completed request form, you will be entering into an agreement based on our Terms and Conditions:

Terms and Conditions (pdf, 128 KB)

Information on turnaround times, tests available and ordering process can be found on this website, or you can contact us using the contact details listed on the individual laboratory websites.

If you intend referring work for the first time to any of our laboratories, or you intend a significant change (considered to be an increase of greater than 20 percent by activity), please contact the relevant laboratory prior to referral, so that the laboratory can assure you that they have the capacity and resources to meet your request.

If you are unsure of the specific laboratory, please contact Andrew Platt, Haematology Quality Manager.

Pathology accreditation

All laboratories within the Pathology and Laboratory Directorate are inspected annually by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) against international standards (ISO15189) and have achieved accreditation.

Pathology accreditation

Other related departments and organisations

Last reviewed:18 February 2025