Welcome to the NHS Forth Valley Microbiology Labs webpage. Here you can find out more about our service and the tests we offer. If you are unable to find the information you are looking for, please email fv.microbiology@nhs.scot.

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms. This includes bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Microbiology helps find the disease-causing microorganisms by the following methods:

• Microscopy – the use of microscopes to view samples
• Culture – a method of growing microbial organisms under controlled laboratory conditions
• Antimicrobial susceptibility testing – this helps determine the best treatment options
• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) – Amplification of DNA
• Serology – detection of antibodies or antigens

If you are a healthcare provider, please refer to our full Microbiology User Manual on StaffNet. If you are unable to access this, please contact fv.microbiology@nhs.scot.

If you require the information in a different format or have accessibility needs and require support, please contact fv.equality@nhs.scot.

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UKAS Accreditation

The Microbiology Laboratory at Forth Valley Royal Hospital is currently UKAS accredited in accordance with International Standard ISO 15189:2012 Medical laboratories – Requirements for Quality and Competence. Our Laboratory Number is 10825.

The Microbiology Department acknowledges that each request accepted by the laboratory for examination(s) shall be considered an agreement.

A robust risk management process is in place in line with NHS Forth Valley with an aim to ensure there is an ongoing assessment and monitoring of risks in all examinations performed within Microbiology. Any identified risks and effectiveness of the mitigation processes are monitored and evaluated according to the potential harm to the patient. Any residual risk that cannot be mitigated will be communicated to users.

The full list of accredited tests can be viewed here on the UKAS website.

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Quality Assurance

Microbiology has a fully embedded Quality management System which provides assurance by way of external audit by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) that the service we provide is of a very high standard and that patient and user safety and well being is at the core of service delivery.

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Location and Contact Details

Address: Microbiology Laboratory, Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Stirling Road, Larbert, FK5 4WR

E-mail contact: fv.microbiology@nhs.scot

Switchboard: Forth Valley Royal Hospital – 01324 566000

The laboratory operates a 24/7 service on the following basis:

• Weekdays – 8.30am to 5pm
• Weekends – 8.30am to 4.30pm
• Public Holidays – 8.30am to 5pm, with the exception of:
  • Christmas & 1st Jan – 10:00am to 12:30pm
  • Boxing Day & 2nd Jan 08:30am to 12:30pm

24/7 on call service available for urgent samples out with these hours, per Intranet User Manual.

Please note that we cannot provide results or specific enquiries on your sample(s). The best way to get help, or if you have a concern or query, is to contact your clinical team or GP. Lab results often require the interpretation of a range of factors associated with your clinical care.

Our department is also unable to arrange private sample testing, this is not a service we offer directly to patients. Testing can only be arranged via your registered health care practitioner.

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Consent

Please note that the microbiology laboratory consider all specimens received have been sent with the necessary consents to carry out the requested tests. Your GP or Healthcare Provider will have explained the test to you and asked for your consent.

The microbiology laboratory may, on occasion, modify a test request if there is indication that this was ordered in error to the most appropriate test. The microbiologists may at times send samples away to external laboratories to investigate samples further. The interim and final reports will reflect this and be issued as soon as possible and remain the responsibility of the clinical team.

If a sample has been submitted and your clinical team wish to add tests they may call or email the laboratory to do so. Original samples are retained for different periods of time. Therefore, add on requests should be made as early as possible by your GP or Healthcare Provider.

The microbiology laboratory may decline a requested test. An explanation will always accompany the report. Reasons a test may be declined include:

• Missing minimum required data
• Wrong sample type (e.g. EDTA blood sent instead of clotted blood for serology)
• Inadequate sample to do all requested tests
• Inadequate clinical detail to justify referral to a reference laboratory

In all cases where a test request is declined the sample will be stored for a period of time and will be indicated on the report. This allows clinical teams an opportunity to contact the laboratory and amend the test request or provide additional clinical information if required.

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Data Protection

NHS Forth Valley has robust policies in place to protect the information we hold about patients and staff. All staff, including those in the microbiology laboratory, are trained in matters surrounding confidentiality at induction. This understanding of confidentiality and data protection is further reinforced by professional registration bodies such as the HCPC, IBMS and GMC which govern our staff. Only clinicians involved in the care of an individual should discuss results with microbiology.

• NHSFV Privacy Notice

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Duty of Candour

On 1 April 2018 the government introduced organisational Duty of Candour. The overall purpose of the new duty is to ensure that organisations are open, honest and supportive when there is an unexpected or unintended incident resulting in death or harm. This organisational responsibility is in addition to GMC guidance on the matter for doctors, NMC guidance for nurses and health and care professions council for biomedical scientists.

This duty requires organisations to follow a Duty of Candour procedure which will include:

• notifying the person affected,
• apologising and offering a meeting to give an account of what happened,
• reviewing the incident, and
• offering support to those affected

If you believe that microbiology advice or microbiology laboratory results have resulted in unexpected or unintended incident resulting in death or harm to a patient then please inform the microbiology laboratory as soon as possible and complete a NHS Forth Valley Safeguard (IR1) form on the intranet. In addition please send the IR1 reference to the following email address fv.microbiology@nhs.scot with an explanation of the Duty of Candour incident to be investigated. The microbiology laboratory has a Duty of Candour process in place and will engage with the clinical team.

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Feedback

Even though microbiology cannot answer specific enquiries on your sample directly or give out results to you, the laboratory welcomes feedback from patients. To give feedback, including compliments and complaints, please email fv.microbiology@nhs.scot.

We aim to acknowledge complaints within 7 working days of receipt. Following this all complaints will be investigated in confidence and a letter outlining our findings will follow when the investigation is completed.

If you have already contacted Microbiology directly and are unhappy, then please contact Patient Relations. They are a branch of the NHS Forth Valley Person Centred Care Directorate and are responsible for coordinating responses to complaints, compliments and feedback from patients and communities. The patient relations team are based in FVRH and can be contacted via fv.complaints@nhs.scot.

Further details about the compliments and complaints department are available on the Compliments & Complaints page.

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Tests

A full list of the tests offered within the NHS Forth Valley Microbiology Lab can be viewed below, with turnaround times (TATs) for each specimen type listed against each test. The turnaround time represents the NHS Forth Valley microbiology laboratory standard for reporting 95% of results of this sample type.

Please note that not all tests are performed daily and some require referral to an external laboratory. Please also note that samples referred to external labs have their own TATs over which we have no control. There may be a delay in uploading reference lab reports to our Lab systems. Urgent processing must be discussed with the lab in all cases but is not always possible.

Anything not listed as performed here in Microbiology will likely be sent to a reference laboratory for testing. Clinicians can view full referred test repertoire on the intranet Laboratory Handbook. Please contact your clinician regarding any tests that are not listed.

Bacteriology

Molecular and Serology

Bacteriology

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Laboratory Acronyms

ARL – UKHSA Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory, Bristol
BRU – Brucella Reference Unit, Liverpool
GBRU – Gastrointestinal bacteria reference unit, UKHSA Colindale, London
Edinburgh – Edinburgh Microbiology Laboratory, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
HTD – Hospital for Tropical Diseases, London
MRL – UKHSA Mycology Reference Laboratory, Bristol
North Microbiology – Glasgow Royal Infirmary Microbiology Laboratory, Glasgow
SPDRL – Scottish Parasite Diagnostic and Reference, Glasgow
SSSCDRL – Scottish Salmonella, Shigella and Clostridium difficile Reference Laboratory, Glasgow
SAMRSRL – Scottish Antimicrobial Resistance Satellite Reference Laboratory Service, Glasgow
SHLMPRL – Scottish Haemophilus, Legionella, Meningococcus and Pneumococcus Reference Laboratory, Glasgow
SMRSARL – Scottish MRSA Reference Laboratory, Glasgow
SMRL – Scottish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, Edinburgh
SBSTIRL – Scottish Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections Reference Laboratory, Edinburgh
SERL – Scottish E coli O157/STEC Reference Laboratory, Edinburgh
SNVHFTS – Scottish National Viral Haemorrhagic Fever Test Service, Edinburgh
STRL – Scottish Toxoplasma Reference Laboratory, Inverness
SLDTRL – Scottish Lyme Disease and Tick-borne Infections Reference Laboratory, Inverness
WoSSVC – West of Scotland Specialist Virology Centre, Glasgow