Policies and guidelines

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The following policies and guidelines apply to all departments within the Division of Laboratory Medicine:

Specimen acceptance policy

This policy sets out Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s policy for the acceptance process for specimens requiring analysis by the Division of Laboratory Medicine.

It provides a robust framework to ensure that all specimens are correctly and unambiguously identified.

Communication of test results

MFT has produced a Communication of Test Results policy to help to minimise the risk of misdiagnosis or failure/delay in diagnosis and to improve patient outcomes and quality of care, ensuring correct and efficient communication of test results.

It is the responsibility of individual Laboratory Managers within the Division of Laboratory Medicine, who provide services for diagnostic testing and/or screening, to develop local procedures relating to those tests and screening in accordance with the Trust ‘Policy for the Management of Clinical Diagnostic Tests or Screening Procedures’ and the guidance in the DLM policy.

Trust policy states:

“…It is the responsibility of the referring healthcare professional to peruse, view, act upon and record the outcomes/results of any diagnostic test and/or screening procedure they have requested. If they are not able to do this during their working hours they must ensure appropriate handover of their responsibilities.”

The Division of Laboratory Medicine has developed three flowcharts to help explain to users the communication of test results from the Division, showing the attempts made by the Division to communicate results, urgent results and the failsafe mechanisms in place.

Underlying these three flowcharts is a Division of Laboratory Medicine Policy explaining and detailing these flowcharts: The DLM Communication of Test Results (DLM-QUAL-POL-3).

 

(Last reviewed July 2024)