The Trust provides a consultant-led comprehensive Laboratory Medicine Service, offering clinical and technical expertise in Microbiology; Clinical Chemistry/Immunology; Haematology; Histology and Cytology. All disciplines hold full Clinical Laboratory Accreditation (CPA UK).
The Directorate consists of the following departments:
- Biochemistry and Immunology
- Cellular Pathology
- Haematology and Blood Bank
The Phlebotomy Service provides a patient blood collection service in the outpatient departments at:
Heartlands - Monday to Friday.(8.45am – 3.00pm)
Good Hope - Monday to Friday.(8.45am - 5.00pm)
Solihull - Monday to Friday.(8.00am - 4.00pm)
Following referral from clinicians, patients can deliver in person any samples for analysis, with the appropriate request form, to Pathology Departments on any of the three sites between the hours of 8.00am and 8.00pm at Heartlands, 8.00am and 9.30pm at Good Hope and 9.00am to 5.00pm at Solihull, Monday to Friday.
Biochemistry and Immunology
The Biochemistry and Immunology Department provides a wide range of analytical, patient diagnostics and advisory services, which are available to inpatients, outpatients and the community at large. As you would expect from a large teaching hospital this service is backed up with training and research programmes aimed at improving patient care. To ensure the highest standard of work, we participate in extensive internal and external quality assurance schemes.
Cellular Pathology
The department of cellular pathology includes Histopathology, Cytopathology and the mortuaries. Histopathology provides a fully comprehensive diagnostic histology service to Heart of England Foundation Trust and its GP community. The Department is able to provide a wide range of expertise to include chest; gastrointestinal; breast; skin; renal; urological; ear, nose and throat; and lymph node pathology.
Cytopathology provides a comprehensive systemic cytology service to the Trust and its client GPs; it also provides the National Cervical Cytology Screening Programme.
Haematology and Blood Bank
The Haematology department consists of Automated Haematology; Coagulation; Blood Bank; Cell Markers and Molecular Laboratories. Automated Haematology deals with blood samples for conditions such as anaemia and infections. Coagulation looks at blood clotting times for example to monitor drug dosage for patients taking Warfarin. The Blood Bank provides compatible donor blood and blood products for patients requiring surgery, emergency transfusions following trauma or to support treatment. The Cell Markers and Molecular Laboratories provide specialist services to help diagnose conditions such as leukaemia.
The Department employs 65 members of staff and processes over 750,000 requests per year from patients within the three Trust Hospitals, GPs and from other hospitals around the Midlands Region.
Health Protection Agency (Microbiology)
Heart of England purchases its clinical microbiology service from the Health Protection Agency, which shares premises with the other laboratory medicine services. The clinical microbiology service is also currently delivered from the Good Hope site, providing services to local patients and general practitioners.
The comprehensive clinical and testing services offered include:
- Microbiological (bacterial, viral, fungal and other micro-organisms) diagnosis of infectious diseases and clinical management of infection
- Testing of antimicrobial agents against micro-organisms from clinical specimens and advice on antimicrobial therapy
- Provision of an Infection Control service e.g. MRSA, Clostridium difficile
- The investigation of outbreaks of infectious disease within the hospital and the wider community
- The investigation of food, water and environmental samples outbreaks for health protection
- Provision of regional Tuberculosis diagnostic and public health service
- Antiviral drug resistance testing service for HIV.
For further information about the laboratory services available at the Trust, please contact 0121 424 3251 / 5526.