Urgent Haematology Requests

Normal Laboratory Working Hours

Analyses requested as an emergency test should have the urgent tick box on the request form marked or the ICE request completed as urgent.

Out of Normal Working Hours  

• Full Blood Count
• INR and Partial Thromboplastin Time
• DIC Screen
• Urgent Sickle Cell screening
• Malarial screen
• Crossmatch for Blood Transfusion 
• Issue of fresh frozen plasma/platelets/cryoprecipitate

Please contact  the shift Biomedical Scientist on bleep 2449 for BHH/Solihull or 8779 for GHH for all urgent Blood or Blood Product requests or for general advice and availability of other investigations. 

Screening for thalassaemia and variant haemoglobins (such as Sickle haemoglobin) is performed within the Haematology laboratory at Heartlands Hospital for all Trust sites and GP's. Patients may require haemoglobinopathy testing as part of ante-natal screening or pre-operative assessment.

Requests should be made on a Haematology request form and sent with a 4ml EDTA sample for analysis. We are unable to reflex haemoglobinopathy screening on suspected full blood counts results without a request. Ante-natal requests should be accompanied with a Family Origin Questionnaire.

Occasionally samples are referred to Central Middlesex Hospital, London or John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford for confirmation of new or unusual variants or for alpha thalassaemia testing.

For further information or advice please contact the laboratory on extension 40198 or check the Test Database.

Add-on Tests

Any addtional test requests should be made to the laboratory within the following time scales:-

	Citrate samples within 4 hours of venepuncture
	EDTA samples within 24 hours (requests for Haemoglobinopathy screening can be made upto 72 hours from venepuncture)

Heartlands/Solihull Hospital - Additional tests may also be performed on previously received specimens if sufficient is available in storage and the sample is within the time scale indicated above.. For Hospital users of the service please use the electronic add on system. External users of the service should contact the relevant department to discuss if an add on test is possible.

Good Hope Hospital -  All requests for add on tests on inpatients should be made using a request form. External users of the service should contact the relevant department to discuss if an add on test is possible.

Indications for Thrombophilia Screening:

All requests for Thrombophilia Screening must be approved by a Haematology Consultant. This approval is based on NICE clinical guiedeline (NG158).  Samples from patients with insufficient clinical details will be stored untested for one month. In this situation please contact a Consultant Haematologist for advice.

Samples for any coagulation tests must be filled to a minimum of 90% of the fill line indicated on the sample tube. Any sample filled below this level will be reported as insufficient and a repeat sample will be required.