General Information
The Biochemistry Department is situated within the Pathology Laboratory at Letterkenny University Hospital. Biochemistry is concerned with the measurement of the chemical constituents (ranging from ions to complex proteins) of body fluids, for use not only in diagnosis of disease, but also in monitoring the course of disease, the effect of treatment, prognosis and screening. The department provides a comprehensive service during normal working hours (0800-2000 M-F), an urgent service at weekends and bank holidays and a 24 hour emergency service for investigations required for the immediate clinical management of patients.
The Biochemistry User Manual has been prepared in conjunction with The Pathology Department User Manual (MP-GEN-0064) to inform the users of the Saolta University Health Care Group, Letterkenny University Hospital, Pathology Department of which services are available within the Pathology Department and how to obtain the services required.
PLEASE REFER TO DOCUMENT MP-GEN-0064, THE PATHOLOGY DEPARTMENT GENERAL USER MANUAL FOR GUIDANCE ON USING THESE DOCUMENTS.
Documents are available on Q-Pulse and also on the HSE Website http://www.hse.ie/luhPathology
Read or download the Biochemistry User Manual
Read or download the Pathology Department General User Manual
Departmental Contacts
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|
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| Francesca Patton |
Chief Medical Scientist |
Francesca.patton@hse.ie
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| Paulette Alexander/Susan Breen/ Caoimhe Haughey/ Aoife O' Donnell/ |
Senior Medical Scientist / Point of Care Coordinator |
Ext 4614 |
Departmental Phone Numbers
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Internal Extension |
External Direct Dial |
| Biochemistry Laboratory |
3559 |
074 912 3559 |
Routine Opening Hours
Biochemistry: Monday - Friday, 8am to 8pm
Outside the hours of 09:00 and 17:00 the Medical Scientist “on-call” can be contacted for URGENT requests on 173-814 or via the switchboard at Letterkenny University Hospital (074-9125888).
Urgent Samples
If urgent analysis is required, please call the Biochemistry lab on numbers listed above.
Results and Enquiries
Results will be available for viewing onwards (on Laboratory Information System, KEPLER) following authorisation by the laboratory staff.
Printed reports will be issued daily from the laboratory and delivered to all requesting locations.
Telephoning Results
Abnormal results falling outside defined limits will be telephoned to the requesting source. These limits are available from the Biochemistry Department.
Point of Care Testing (POCT)
Near patient testing devices situated outside the laboratory give high quality results if used and maintained correctly. The laboratory presently only supports POCT for blood gas analysers in NNU, ICU and A&E. All blood gas analysers are password protected and therefore should only be used by staff that have been trained and issued with their own personal password. Please contact 4614 to arrange training when required. All users are personally accountable for any testing performed under their password. The laboratory also provides support for hospital based P.O.C. Glucometers.
External Quality Assurance Schemes
The Clinical Chemistry laboratory participates in relevant external third party assurance schemes.
This includes schemes operated by:
- UKNEQAS (UK, National External Quality Assurance Scheme)
- WEQAS (Welch External Quality Assurance Scheme)
- IEQAS (Irish External Quality Assurance Scheme)
LR-BIO-0027, Revision 26: Last modified 02/05/24. Change Description: LP-CHEM-0023, Biochemistry User Manual updated (Rev 14). Change detail listed within document. NOTE: If printed, information on this page is only valid on day of printing.)
