Clinical Biochemistry is situated on the fourth floor, PCH, and provides both routine and emergency pathology services to PCH, Stamford Hospital, Doddington Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital, The Fitzwilliam Hospital and the district's GPs. The Consultant Chemical Pathologists  are supported by a team of Biomedical Scientists and Assistant Technical Officers. To assist us with our workload of over 5 million tests a year, we use automated analyzer systems from Roche Diagnostics, as well as equipment from Perkin Elmer, Agilent Technologies, Biorad, Tosoh, Waters, Sebia and a range of manual assays performed in conventional "test tubes".

The department is open for routine and urgent work 8.00 hrs - 20.00 hrs Monday - Friday  

At all other times, including Bank Holidays, the Department operates an emergency on-call service. For details, see below.

Our address is:

Department of Clinical Biochemistry

Department 413b

Peterborough City Hospital

Bretton Gate, Peterborough

PE3 9GZ

Clinical Advice

The Clinical Biochemistry department currently consists of Consultant Chemical Pathologists, Biomedical Scientist staff and Assistant Technical officers. 
 
Clinical advice (including choice of test, interpretation of results, diagnostic, prognostic or other information) is available from the department on a 24/7 basis. This will be provided by the Consultant Chemical Pathologist, or another medically qualified consultant on a rota basis.  

The Clinical Biochemistry departments clinical cover can be contacted 24/7 by telephone. To contact the duty Consultant please call switchboard on 01733 678000 (0 internally).
   
The laboratory also has a team of Biomedical Scientists who can provide information on requesting, specimen collection, interferences, validity of results, biological variation and cascade testing. The laboratory can be contacted by phone (ext 8455, bleep 1150) or by email for non-urgent matters (peh-tr.chemimm@nhs.net).

Unlisted Biochemistry tests

If tests are required which are not listed on the repertoire within this handbook or via ICE order comms, the laboratory must be contacted in advance using either the email (peh-tr.chemimm@nhs.net) or via the duty consultant (see above). This allows the laboratory to identify an appropriate laboratory, confirm specimen requirements, etc. For urgent requests, for example toxicology investigations, please contact the duty Consultant via switchboard on 01733 678000 (0 internally). Once agreed with the department, these tests can be requested via ICE order comms (using the 'Biochemistry (unlisted)*' test), or via a manual request form. 

Turnaround times

The laboratory aims to maintain turnaround times for all of our test repertoire that are appropriate to the test requested and the prioritisation of the request.

Where Clinical Biochemistry results are required as a matter of medical emergency, please contact the laboratory on ext 8455 or bleep 1150. We aim to process all emergency specimens within 1 hour of receipt in the laboratory.

Samples for urgent analysis should be clearly marked on the request form as such, this may be done by marking the top of a request form ‘URGENT’ (for manual request forms) or by selecting ‘Urgent’ prioritisation on Sunquest ICE software. We aim to report >95% of urgent specimens within 1 hour of receipt in the laboratory.

Turnaround times for 'Routine' requests vary depending on the test and are detailed in the individual test pages of this handbook. They are based on clinical need and also contractual agreements with users. 

A number of tests within the laboratory require specialised analysis and, as a consequence, turnaround times may be longer, e.g. serum/urine electrophoresis, urine metanephrines, HIAAs, referred tests.

For more information on the turnaround times of particular tests, please consult the ‘Clinical Biochemistry Test Information' page in the electronic handbook.

Service hours

The normal ("in hours") day is Monday to Friday 8.00 – 20.00hrs (excluding Bank Holidays). Duties outside these times are considered to be "out of hours" and are subject to the following protocols:

Monday-Friday 20.00 hrs - 08.00 hrs

The department is supported by on-site out-of-hours Biomedical Scientists, who process urgent work during these periods. Sample collections are made at a minimum of every 2hrs during this period.

Any urgent samples delivered to the department out of hours, provided the tests requested are listed in the out-of-hours test repertoire (see below), will be processed on the next analysis run.

All in-patient requests must be made using the Sunquest system so that results can be reported on electronically.

The out-of-hours BMS must be contacted on bleep 1150 in the following circumstances:

• For all urgent specimens from locations not in the PCH main building (e.g. Cavell House, HCAH etc.)
• For any samples whose urgency requires analysis before the next timed analysis run (see run times above)
• For assays indicated in the out-of-hours test repertoire below.

Failure to do so may delay analysis until the next timed run, and in some cases (e.g. blood gases, ammonia, lactate) may invalidate the sample.
 
Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays

The department is supported by on-site out-of-hours Biomedical Scientists, who process urgent work during these periods. Sample collections are made at a minimum of every 2hrs during this period.

Any urgent samples delivered to the department out of hours, provided the tests requested are listed in the out-of-hours test repertoire (see below), will be processed on the next analysis run.

All in-patient requests must be made using the Sunquest ICE system so that results can be reported electronically.

The on-call BMS must be contacted on bleep 1150 in the following circumstances:

• For all urgent specimens from locations not in the PCH main building (e.g. Cavell House, HCAH, etc.)
• For any samples whose urgency requires analysis before the next timed analysis run (see run times above).
• For assays indicated in the out-of-hours test repertoire below.

Failure to do so may delay analysis until the next timed run, and in some cases (e.g. blood gases, ammonia, lactate) may invalidate the sample.

Out-Of-Hours Test Repertoire

The following analyses are available without recourse to Clinical/Senior staff: sodium, potassium, chloride, creatinine (U/E); bicarbonate; urea; albumin; total bilirubin; alkaline phosphatase; ALT; total protein (LFT); calcium; inorganic phosphate; amylase; uric acid; glucose; Troponin T; CPK; CRP; direct bilirubin; magnesium; paracetamol; salicylate; urine porphobilinogen  screen; lipids, lactate, gentamicin, vancomycin, tobramycin, NT-proBNP.
The following assays are available but the laboratory should be contacted and made aware of the request; ammonia; iron (in cases of suspected toxicity); plasma osmolality; urine osmolality; phenytoin; pregnancy test; lithium; digoxin; theophylline.
The following would generally not be available and would require contacting Clinical/Senior staff: CSF Xanthrochromia, carbamazepine; alcohol; LDH; AST; 24hr urine protein; EPS; HbA1c; metanephrine; 5HIAA; urine albumin/protein:creatinine ratios; thyroid function tests; steroids; peptide hormones; haematinics; PTH.
Requests received out-of-hours that require processing out-of-hours should be marked either URGENT or EMERGENCY except those from Critical Care, Emergency Department and NICU, which are always treated as urgent.

Add on-tests

Samples for routine analysis are retained in the Clinical Biochemistry laboratory for approximately 5 days (with the exception of 'glucose' samples, with a fluoride-EDTA anticoagulant, which are retained for a minimum of 2 days). During this period of time additonal investigations can be requested as follows:

For Add-on requests at the PCH site: Generate a form from the Sunquest ICE system for the required test(s), annotate ‘Please add to sample in lab’, and send to the laboratory. Please note that there is no need to bleep the laboratory out-of-hours to request add-on tests.

Outside the PCH site: contact the laboratory on ext 8468 to request the additional test or email the request from a secure email address to peh-tr.chemimm@nhs.net. When sending a request by email please include the full patient details (first name and surname, date of birth, patient identification number), details of the test you wish to add-on, and the specimen you wish to add the request onto. For out-of-hours requests, bleep 1150 (urgent requests only)

Please note that while many of the analytes currently assayed in serum are stable for a number of days, some may require a fresh sample (e.g. bicarbonate) or specific specimen types or handling procedures. Please contact the laboratory for any enquiries (ext 8455)