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Laboratory User Manual for University Hospital Waterford Pathology Department
WRH-PATH-PD-001*
University Hospital Waterford Pathology Department is an INAB accredited* testing laboratory (Registration Number 170MT). The current scope of accreditation is available on www.inab.ie
News/ Recent Updates:
Effective 13/12/2022 UHW Laboratory Services has commenced inclusion of an accreditation status comment on all results/reports from the laboratory.
Read the memo
*Effective 01/02/2022 Histology Laboratory has voluntarily suspended its INAB accreditation
Introduction
Mission Statement: “The Regional Department of Laboratory Medicine is committed to providing a pathology service of the highest quality to all its users”.
Pathology is a clinical service, which carries out investigations on specimens from patients. It is central to the diagnosis, management and treatment of disease. The service is at the heart of the development of modern scientific medicine, and the practice of pathology has become steadily more diverse and complex.
The pathology service in the HSE - South Eastern area serves a population of approx. 500,000. This includes 30 hospitals and 221 General Practice services. There are 4 acute hospitals with a combined acute bed number of approx. 1100.
The laboratory services for HSE CHO5 area are located at 4 sites within the South East of Ireland. The vast majority of the service is located at University Hospital Waterford. All the pathology consultants are based at this location, as are, approx. 200 scientific staff. The regional laboratory is divided into five main departments; Biochemistry, Blood Transfusion, Haematology, Histology, and Microbiology, with some other subsections within these departments. The regional service for Microbiology and Histology is based in Waterford and all relevant samples are sent directly there. Virtually all work referred from General Practice (except for routine coagulation studies) is sent to the regional laboratory.
Latest News and Service Updates
Test Library (search by Test name)
This section provides details pertaining to specimen type, specific requirements ( if necessary), frequency of analysis and turnaround times for each test performed in the laboratory. Phone alert limits are defined where relevant. The user should contact the laboratory if additional tests are requested on the sample. The lab will advise if the sample is suitable to analyse the additional test request.
Note for Paediatric requests only: Please be advised that the test library below predominately refers to blood sample requirements for adults. The specimen type/anticoagulant for paediatric samples will be the same however the colour coding of the specimen containers differs. The specimen volume for paediatric samples is 1.3mls (exception coagulation samples =1.4mls). Any further queries on paediatric blood sampling contact the relevant laboratory.
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
Routine Hours
- Monday to Friday: 08.00hrs- 20.00hrs
- Saturday: 09.30hrs - 12.30hrs
Emergency On-Call Service
Outside of the above times, an emergency on-call service is provided in Biochemistry, Haematology, Blood Transfusion and Microbiology. Tests available on-call are indicated within the discipline-specific pages
- Ensure only emergency samples are sent to the laboratory
- Ensure the correct medical scientist on-call is notified via the hospital switchboard.
- Ensure request forms are marked appropriately as "On-Call".
Postal address:
Pathology Laboratory
University Hospital Waterford
Dunmore Road
Waterford
X91 ER8E
Contact Details:
- Blood Sciences Result Enquiries: (051) 842475
- Microbiology Result Enquiries: (051) 84 2488/2489
- Laboratory supplies/stores: (051) 842495
- A/ Laboratory Manager, Ms. Carmel Cullen: (051) 848905
- Clinical Director, Dr Nigam Shah: (051) 848746
- A/ Quality Manager, Ms. Hilda Guerin: (051) 848358
- Laboratory Information Systems Manager, Mr. Barry McGuinness: (051) 848532
- Laboratory Fax: (051) 848565
Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)
UHW (and all HSE hospital laboratories in the South East) use the iLAB APEX Laboratory Information Management System (v. 5.8) supplied by DXC Technology PLC
This system is managed by the Laboratory Information Systems Manager based in UHW.
The system is used to manage all aspects of registration, processing and reporting of the several thousand test requests the laboratory receives on a daily basis.
It is interfaced to a multitude of systems allowing for electronic transfer of patient information, demographics, and requests to instrumentation used in the analysis of results and the transmission/return of results back to the Laboratory system once complete.
Lab Web Enquiry System
Staff working for the HSE in hospitals, Primary Care Centres, and Community Care Services can access patient results held on the lab system using LAB WEB ENQUIRY.
Laboratory Supplies
Internal Laboratory supplies for UHW are fulfilled by the laboratory.
Supplies for external locations; GP practices, nursing homes hospitals, etc are fulfilled by Cruinn Diagnostics Ltd.
View the Laboratory Supplies page for further information and order requisition forms.
Quality Assurance
As part of its commitment to total quality, the Laboratory participates in several quality assurance schemes run by various organizations including the Irish External Quality Assessment Scheme and the United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Scheme (UKNEQAS). Copies of the results of these external quality assessments are available on request.
Feedback
The Pathology Department aims to provide the best possible service to our users. But there may be times when you think we could do better and sometimes you may even want to tell us about something we have done well.
If you have a Complaint, Comment, or Complement about the service we provide please get in contact. This provides us with the opportunity to improve the quality of the services we provide. If you wish to give feedback please contact the relevant person/department as outlined using the contact details provided on this site.
Useful links
Phlebotomy Services (note Phlebotomy Dept. is not managed by laboratory service)
Completing request forms and labelling the specimen
Transportation of samples to the laboratory
Reporting of results
Genetic testing
*Please note this User Manual is Frequently updated as information, requirements for tests, and changes to test parameters change. Please refer to this website's changelog page for details. Further details are also available from the laboratory on request.
