Virology

The Clinical Virology Department of the MMMP is situated on the third floor of the Clinical Sciences Centre at MFT.

The Virology department provides a comprehensive screening and diagnostic service, including specialised testing, for most of the North West of England. Some of the reference facilities are offered nationally.

The total workload is in excess of 150,000 samples (300,000 tests) per annum.

Laboratory opening hours

The laboratory is open:

Monday to Friday: 8.30am – 5.00pm

Saturday: 8.30am – 12.30pm

A restricted urgent testing service is available (see 10.7, below) outside normal working hours by contacting the on-call Biomedical Scientist (BMS) via the Hospital Switchboard – 0161 276 1234.

Clinical advice

A full clinical advice service is maintained 24 hours a day.

For advice during normal working hours: Tel: 0161-276-8854/8788.

For Clinical advice out of hours: Tel: 0161-276-1234 and ask for the duty Consultant Virologist.

Results

Result and other enquiries can be made to the microbiology call centre.

Result enquiries: Tel: 0161-276-8854/8788.

Results will only be telephoned when requested or if there is a clinically significant result.

Notification of delayed results

Where results will be delayed beyond expected turn round times due to circumstances beyond our control, a duty consultant will notify clinicians of such delays if it is believed that the delay will adversely affect a patient’s management.

Out-of-hours service

The Virology out-of-hours service is an emergency service.

A limited number of investigations are offered out of normal laboratory hours (i.e. 17.00 – 08.30 weekdays, 12.30 to 08.30 Saturdays, and 08.30 to 08.30 Sundays and Bank Holidays) where urgent results are required.  The duty BMS can be contacted through hospital switchboard (0161 276 1234).

The following assays are available as appropriate:

• Hepatitis B surface antigen
• Hepatitis C antibody
• HIV antigen/antibody
• HTLV antibody
• CMV IgG antibody
• Hepatitis B core antibody (total)
• Toxoplasma antibody
• Varicella zoster IgG
• Treponemal antibody
• Legionella urinary antigen
• Pneumococcal urinary antigen

Requests for additional tests

Additional tests can be requested by telephone or letter on samples received by the laboratory up to 2 years after the receipt of the sample (2 years in serology, 1 year in molecular), although it must be recognised that the archive sample available will have a limited volume and the antibody profile may be different to their current sample.

Issue of immunoglobulin (Ig)

Specific immunoglobulin for prophylaxis of hepatitis B and Varicella-zoster and normal immunoglobulin for prophylaxis of hepatitis A and measles are available. Specific immunoglubulin and vaccine are available for rabies as part of the national rabies immunoglobulin service.

Contact the Consultant on call via the MFT Switchboard (0161 276 1234) who will arrange issue with the duty BMS as appropriate.

Contact details

(Last reviewed March 2023)