Home Page Introduction

The Department of Clinical Microbiology provides comprehensive medical microbiology services (including virology) for the whole Nottingham Health Community. With a staff of just over 100, including consultants, junior medical staff, biomedical scientists, clinical scientists, laboratory assistants and administrative staff, the laboratory handles in excess of 900,000 microbiology and virology samples per year.

The department processes a range of specimens from patients including urine samples, swabs, sputum, stool and blood samples in order to diagnose infections such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia, skin and soft tissue infections and viral infections such as hepatitis and HIV. The department is also active in supporting infection prevention and control activities by providing the laboratory diagnostics for MRSA and C.difficile. As well as diagnosing infections in individual patients, the laboratory monitors patterns of infection over time and the rates of antibiotic resistance amongst pathogens such as E.coli.

The laboratory operates to high standard and is fully accredited by Clinical Pathology Accreditation UK Ltd. Teaching, training, audit, research and development are all actively pursued within the department.

The department is designated as one of the Heath Protection Agencies (HPA) regional laboratories and provides a regional service to other local laboratories in Nottinghamshire and Southern Derbyshire.

Please note information is uncontrolled when printed.

Contacts

General enquiries and results*
0115 924 9924 Extension 61163

*Results are only available to healthcare workers

Opening Times

The Department is open from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, with a limited service on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. Outside normal hours there is an on-call service for urgent specimens and for medical microbiology advice.

Location

The laboratory is located at the Queens Medical Centre campus on A and B floors in the West Block. The main reception is on A floor.

**NEW**

 

New C.difficile testing and reporting

In response to recent new national guidelines there have been some changes to the testing, reporting and interpretation of laboratory results for C.difficile.  Click here for further information

Change to the processing of assays

From 3 October 2011 gentamicin, vancomycin and tobramycin assays will be performed by Clinical Pathology.  Please click here for full details

Update on MRSA screens

click here for further information

 

Important Information

Urgent samples should be phoned through to the laboratory wherever possible.  If this is not feasible, please indicate that the sample is urgent by writing it on the patient request form.

Instructions on completing a request form

Department policy on rejection of samples with inadequately completed request forms

Telephoned results

Links to other Internet sites for further information

City Hospital Antibiotics Site
QMC Antibiotics Site

Website site contact and website review date

Tim Boswell, Microbiology Consultant
tim.boswell@nuh.nhs.uk 0115 924 9924 Extension 61161

Next Review date - May 2012