Blood Bank - Sample Rejection Criteria

Written by Craig Webster on .

SAMPLE INTEGRITY

Poorly venepunctured blood samples can dramatically affect the results of a test. Some of the more common errors are listed below:

  • Insufficient sample – appropriate volume blood tubes are supplied with. Insufficient samples will mean an inability to test and delay in results and provision of blood products.
  • Haemolysed sample - if the blood sample has been venepunctured using needle and syringe and a small gauge needle is used to pierce the lid of the Vacutainer tube, haemolysis may occur especially if the blood is forced into the tube by pushing the plunger. Vacutainer tubes contain a vaccuum that will naturally draw sufficient blood into the tube. Change to a wider gauge needle before piercing the Vacutainer lid. Haemolysis will prevent the sample from being tested as assays are light transmission dependant and haemolysis in the plasma will give false positive results.
  • Samples delayed in transit – Delays in receipt of the sample in Blood Bank will mean a delay in testing and as a result delay in provision of blood products. Significant delays of may mean the sample is no-longer suitable for testing.
  • Clotted samples – Samples not taken directly into the Vacutainer and mixed sufficiently may clot. Once clotted the red cells cannot be tested for the blood group and the sample will be unsuitable for testing.  
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Location of Laboratories

Patient Information

General Information

The laboratories at Heartlands Hospital, Good Hope Hospital and Solihull Hospital form part of the services provided by University Hospitals Birmingham and are UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accredited to the ISO 15189:2012 standard. For a list of accredited tests and other information please visit the UKAS website using the following link: https://www.ukas.com/find-an-organisation/

  • Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull Hospital pathology laboratories are a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No.8217
  • United Kingdom Health Security Agency laboratory is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No.8213

Tests not appearing on the UKAS Schedule of Accreditation currently remain outside of our scope of accreditation. However, these tests have been validated to the same high standard as accredited tests and are performed by the same trained and competent staff.

For further test information, please visit the test database: http://www.heftpathology.com/frontpage/test-database.html.

Protection of personal information - Laboratory Medicine comply with the Trust Data Protection policy and have procedures in place to allow the Directorate and its employees to comply with the Data Protection act  1998 and associated best practice and guidance.

For further information contact Louise Fallon, Quality Manager, 0121 424 1235

UKAS HEFT