Pathology Services

Pathology is the study of diseases, focussing on causes, development and progress of disease and how the body is affected. Pathology is involved in approximately 70% of all diagnoses made in the NHS. We have a number of laboratories performing a variety of tests and procedures for both our Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital patients. 

Women's Hospital services

Pathology Services at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, comprises the departments of Clinical Chemistry, Cellular Pathology (Histopathology, perinatal pathology and Andrology) and Haematology and Transfusion. The hospital is located in the University campus in Edgbaston, Birmingham and provides a range of specialised health care services to more than 50,000 women, men and families each year.

Children's Hospital services 

Pathology Services at Birmingham Children’s Hospital comprises the departments of Blood Sciences (Clinical Chemistry, Haematology and Transfusion), Histopathology, Microbiology and Newborn Screening and Biochemical Genetics. The Children’s Hospital is based in the city centre and is a leading UK specialist paediatric centre, offering expert care to 90,000 children and young people from across the country every year.

To find out more about the services we offer at both of our hospitals please see our services page.

Our team

All departments employ a range of highly qualified, experienced staff, including clinicians, clinical scientists, biomedical scientists, medical laboratory assistants and administrative staff in providing a quality diagnostic service to a wide range of users. The laboratory provides support to clinicians to ensure appropriate investigations are requested and provide appropriate interpretation and clinical advice to ensure the highest quality of care is delivered.

As a department, we are continually developing and improving the service for the investigation and diagnosis of disease. It is our mission to provide an outstanding service, to share and spread new knowledge and practice and to always be at the forefront of what is possible.

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Key contacts

Laboratory Director and Pathology Services Manager

Darren Redfern
0121 333 9835
darren.redfern@nhs.net

Quality Manager

Kerry Gawthorpe
0121 333 9923
kerry.gawthorpe@nhs.net

Pathology contacts

Women's Hospital

Haematology

0121 472 1377 Ext 5518

Blood Transfusion

0121 472 1377 Ext 5551

Clinical Chemistry

0121 472 1377 Ext 5532

Cellular Pathology

0121 472 1377 Ext 5520

Andrology Patient Access Team

0121 627 6845

Cytology Training School

0121 472 1377 1377

Children's Hospital

Diagnostic Haematology

0121 333 9867

Blood Transfusion

0121 333 9874

Specialist Coagulation

0121 333 9869

Molecular Haemostasis

0121 33 9862

Clinical Chemistry

0121 333 9912

Histopathology

0121 333 9833

Microbiology

0121 333 9802

NSBG Screening

0121 333 9900

NSBG IMD

0121 333 9942

Research and Development

0121 333 9921

Opening hours

Opening times for the departments vary and are listed below

 

Department

Monday - Friday

Saturday & Sunday (Restricted Service)

Bank Holidays

Out of hours / Urgent work

Women's Hospital

Clinical Chemistry

9.00am-5.15pm

9.00am-4.45pm (receipt of samples)

9.00am-12:30pm

9.00am-12:00pm  (receipt of samples)

Closed

Haematology

24 / 7 provision

Cellular Pathology

7.30am – 4.30pm

No service provision outside the times specified

Mortuary

9.30am – 2.30pm

No service provision outside the times specified

Andrology

8.00am – 4.00pm

No service provision outside the times specified

Children's

Hospital

Clinical Chemistry

24 / 7 provision

Haematology

24 / 7 provision

Microbiology

9.00am – 5:24pm

5.24pm – 9.00am

Histopathology

8.45 to 5.15

No service provision outside the times specified

Mortuary

9.00am-5.00pm

Contact the on-call clinical co-ordinators via switchboard

NSBG

9.00am-5.00pm

No service provision outside the times specified

 

R&D

9.00am-5.00pm

No service provision outside the times specified

 

Availability of clinical advice

If you wish to ask for clinical advice on ordering examinations or discuss the interpretation of the examination results, please contact the relevant department.

Complaints

Pathology Services operates a complaints system in line with the Trusts ‘Making Experiences Count Policy’.

Complaints, comments or feedback regarding the services provided by pathology can be made verbally or in writing (letter or email). Please contact the Pathology Services Manager or the Quality Manager.

If you feel that your concerns have not been put right you can make a formal complaint.

Health and safety

The departments ensure the safety of all personnel and visitors within Pathology.

In the event of a sample related health and safety issue occurring outside the pathology department eg. spillage of a sample, please contact the relevant department immediately for further information. Non-NHS staff must not attempt to remove or clear up sample spillages.

Data protection

The department complies with the Trust policies relating to the handling, use and protection of personal information (add document here)

  • We only ask for information that we need to allow interpretation of results
  • We protect the information and ensure only those staff who need to see the information can access it
  • We share the information only when we need to for patient case, for example sending the information to another laboratory for testing
  • The data will be stored in accordance with The retention and storage of pathological records and specimens (5th edition) Guidance from The Royal College of Pathologists and the Institute of Biomedical Science, April 2015. We do not store any information for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

Guidance notes

The above information is required by the GDPT (Article 28(3)) which required data processing agreements to include details of the subject-matter, duration, nature and purpose of the processing and the type of personal data and categories of data subjects involved in the data processing.

https://bwc.nhs.uk/privacy-policy

Maintaining quality in Pathology

In the Pathology Department, we recognise our responsibilities as a provider of a quality service. To this end, the departments have developed and documented quality management systems to better satisfy the needs and requirements of their users and to improve the management of the organisation.

A high-quality service is maintained by frequently looking at feedback from user meetings, audits and satisfaction surveys.

  • Haematology (including Fetal Anomaly Screening) at BWH is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No 10259
  • Histopathology at BCH is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No 9890
  • Microbiology at BCH is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No 9896
  • Blood Sciences at BCH is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No 9899
  • Newborn Screening and Biochemical Genetics is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory No 9948

For details of which tests are accredited within each department, please search the Schedule of accreditation on the UKAS website.

https://www.ukas.com/search-accredited-organisations/

Tests not appearing in the schedule are not UKAS accredited. These tests however are performed by the same trained and competent staff.

Blood transfusion services on both sites are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Cellular Pathology laboratory at BWH (License number 12219, 12565) and Histopathology at BCH (License numbers 12132 & 11005) are both approved and registered with the Human Tissue Authority (HTA);

Service user feedback is welcomed and any problems regarding the quality of the service should be brought to the attention of the Quality Manager on extension 9923 or email Kerry.gawthorpe@nhs.net

Please refer to the departmental handbooks on our services page for further information (ISO 15189:2012 5.4.2)