Results
Your results, read before you see them.
Every result goes to a doctor first. It reaches your portal with a line in plain English about what it means, and if it needs a conversation, we ring you.
Every result is read by a doctor before it reaches you
A blood test, by the clock
Taken at 09:24 on a weekday
Same afternoon, for most blood tests.
Samples taken before 11:00 travel with the first courier; after 11:00, with the 15:00 courier, and those results usually arrive the next morning. Vitamin D and some specialist tests take one to two working days. Scan reports are written on the day of the scan.
How it reaches you
Four steps, one of them yours.
- 01
The lab sends the numbers
Results come back into your record with the lab's own reference ranges, the band that 95 percent of healthy people fall within.
- 02
Your doctor reads them
The doctor who asked for the test reads every value, compares it with your last result, and writes you a note: what it shows, and whether anything needs doing.
- 03
You get a text
When the note is written, the result and the note appear in your patient portal and we text you to say so. Nothing reaches you unread.
- 04
We ring if it matters
If a result needs a conversation or a change of plan, your doctor rings you the same day instead of leaving it in the portal.
Reading a result
An asterisk isn't a diagnosis.
A reference range is built so that 95 percent of healthy people fall inside it. That means one healthy person in twenty sits just outside it on any one test.
Ranges also differ from lab to lab, which is why a result is always read against the range printed next to it. In the UK most values are given in millimoles per litre, written mmol/L. Your doctor's note says whether a value outside the range matters for you.
Questions
About results.
Reception sets it up when you first book. You get a text with a link and log in with your date of birth and a code we send to your phone.
Yes. Ask at reception or by email, and we post or hand you a copy with your doctor's note on it.
Only if you ask us to. With your permission we send them the results and our letter, so your records stay in one story.
Read your doctor's note first: it says whether it matters for you. If anything needs action, we will already have rung you. If you'd like to talk it through, book a follow-up or call reception.