Information regarding blood test services provided by University Hospital Southampton

Earlier this month University Hospital Southampton pathology services transferred to a new electronic Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

Following the transition, and as we have begun working with the system, we encountered some issues that resulted in delays to testing turnaround times. As a result we had to prioritise urgent blood tests to allow for these issues to be resolved.

As a temporary measure, we therefore had to advise GP surgeries in Southampton and the surrounding area who use our laboratory service to only book in patients for urgent blood tests, but as of Monday, 15 July this restriction has been lifted and GPs can now refer patients for urgent, non-urgent and routine blood tests.

We had also temporarily suspended our self-service booking system that allows patients to directly book routine and non-urgent testing for appointments at Southampton General Hospital, Lymington Hospital and Romsey Hospital. This service has now been reinstated.

Please visit our pathology page for latest information on how to book a self-service blood test.

UHS is continuing to work very closely with primary care colleagues and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) as we continue to improve parts of the LIMS system that are still not working as well as we would want.

Whilst we have now resolved the backlog in tests and are accepting routine bookings there continues to be an issue with the visibility of results appearing on GPs systems.

Further updates are needed to help the system code the tests, and while this takes place it is taking longer for GPs to receive and review the results. This additional time may have an impact on the number of appointments a GP surgery can offer while the system coding issue is resolved.

We are working hard with our GP colleagues to try and resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Please visit the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board website page with guidance for patients if they are waiting for blood tests. 

We appreciate the frustration the situation has caused all those who use our blood testing pathology services and we very much appreciate the support and understanding of our patients and our colleagues across the HIOW system.