HSL Virology: Request procedures
Royal Free London NHS Trust (All sites)
All routine specimens should be sent to the Central Pathology Reception (SRA) on the 1st floor of the main Royal Free Hospital Building or the Barnet site Rapid Response laboratory, or blood specimens and dry swabs can be sent through the pod system direct to SRA. Respiratory swabs and Faeces must be walked down to the SRA or left for the porters to collect.
For all urgent requests during the laboratory opening hours (Mon-Fri 8am to 5.30pm) the Consultant Virologist, Specialty Registrar, or Section managers should be contacted to discuss the availability of tests. The specimens should be brought directly to the SRA and not left for the porters to deliver.
For requests on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays (testing available 9am-5pm molecular, 24/7 serology) contact the Medical Virologist on-call via switchboard. All tests will have to be urgently couriered to the core laboratory from the SRA after booking and there has to be sufficient time to process the test within the opening hours.
Where possible please order test request(s) using Cerner or TQuest.
If unable to use the system, send a purple or orange Virology request form with the test request(s) and clinical details.
The following request forms will still be required:
- Multipart single pathology request form: For GPs
- Specialised requests forms: For HIV, HCV, HBV, CMV and Influenza resistance drug resistance testing, CMV Guthrie Card testing.
There must be at least 3 unique patient identifiers on both the requests and the specimens.
For patients suspected with unusual viruses like Dengue, Hanta, West Nile and Chikungunya, please give travel history, dates and clear clinical details. This is required by the referral laboratory where the samples are sent and analysed.
Additional Requests
Please call the laboratory during routine working hours for additional tests.
Additional tests can be added onto the original sample for Molecular Virology/Blood Borne Virus PCR within one week of sample receipt, Serology specimens are available for 7 days, unless they are an antenatal sample, transplant or needlestick.
UCLH
All routine specimens from the main hospital sites and Mortimer Market should be sent to the Rapid Response Laboratory (RRL) specimen reception area (SRA) which is located in 60 Whitfield Street.
For all urgent requests during the laboratory opening hours (Mon-Fri 8am to 5.30pm), the Consultant Virologist, Specialty Registrar, or Section leads should be contacted to discuss the availability of tests.
The urgent specimens should be brought/sent directly to the SRA and marked clearly.
For urgent requests on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays (testing available 9am-5pm molecular, 24/7 serology) contact the Medical Virologist on-call via switchboard. All tests will have to be urgently couriered to the core laboratory after booking at the SRA and there has to be sufficient time to process the test within the opening hours.
All tests for virology should be ordered through the EPIC system; Please ensure that there are sufficient clinical details available on the requests either electronic or paper to allow the team to be able to identify the requirements, for testing this is especially important if the samples are to be sent to referral laboratories for specialist testing. Ensure that all the questions asked within the Epic request system are answered.
HTLV viral load testing on either blood or CSF must reach the referral hospital within 24 hours of being drawn. Therefore this test cannot be added onto stored samples.
For HIV, HCV or HBV resistance specimens, it is important to include any information on the patients’ treatment regime or if they are treatment-naive.
North Middlesex
All routine specimens from the main hospital sites should be sent to the Rapid Response Laboratory (RRL) specimen reception area located on the North Middlesex Site.
For all urgent requests during the laboratory opening hours (Mon-Fri 8am to 5.30pm) the Consultant Microbiologist, Specialty Registrar, or Section leads should be contacted to discuss the availability of tests. The urgent specimens should be brought/sent directly to the SRA and marked clearly.
For urgent requests on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays (testing available 9am-5pm molecular, 24/7 serology) contact the Medical Microbiologist on-call via switchboard. All tests will have to be urgently couriered to the core laboratory after booking from the SRA and there has to be sufficient time to process the test within the opening hours.
All tests for virology should be ordered through the Medway system; Please ensure that there are sufficient clinical details available on the requests either electronic or paper to allow the team to be able to identify the requirements, for testing this is especially important if the samples are to be sent to referral laboratories for specialist testing. Ensure that all the questions asked within the Medway request system are answered.
Other users
All other users of services must ensure that samples are sent to the hospital sites that you have agreed prices/have SLAs with.
Samples must be received with clear requests with clinical details, and clearly labelled specimens.
All users
Any additional requests for tests to be added to samples which have been stored must be requested by email (see contact emails above), with sufficient information to positively identify the sample/patient to which these tests are to be added.