Kemnay Medical Group - About medical tests and how to get your results

Noticeboard

All Test Results

We will not routinely inform you if the results are normal.

Blood/ Urine/Stool Tests - Subject to Prior GP Authorisation Only

Requests for blood Tests are subject to prior instruction or authorisation by a Practice GP or Surgery staff only.

Any patients requesting additional tests which have not been prior agreed/authorised will be refused and shall require a GP consultation to request.

Please call the surgery on 01467 642289 between the hours of 11:00 - 17:00 and press option 4 to receive your results.

Results can sometimes take a few days to come back from the labs and be reported on. Please take into consideration weekends and public holidays.

You will be advised to call back for your results in a few days.

Our administration team are not clinically trained to interpret results therefore can only give out the information that the GP or Nurse Practitioner has asked them to.

Normally you will be notified by the administration staff or clinician if you need to make a follow up appointment or have further tests.

The GP will also normally advise if they want to discuss your results with you in an appointment.

Please remember that the staff can only act in accordance with the Clinician's instructions so may not be able to give you a result.

This does not necessarily mean that there is a problem but simply that the Doctor needs to talk to you, to explain the whole situation.

The results of tests carried out during hospital visits are not normally sent to the practice.

Confidentiality

Results for patients aged over 12 years old can only be given to the patient.

In this respect we will only give out results to the person they relate to unless that person has given prior permission for their release or if they are not capable of understanding them.

You can get a Consent for Results form on the Forms section of the website or collect from the surgery this information will be recorded into the patient's medical notes.

Patient Notice

We will do our best to contact you personally to tell you a result if the Clinician wishes that you be contacted rather than wait for you to phone in for your result.

The reception team will not leave a message on an answering machine, other than asking you to contact the Surgery, this is for Data Protection and adherence to patient confidentiality legislation.

Laboratory Specimens

Specimens should be handed in to the Surgery as early in the day as possible.

Please ensure that your sample is sealed securely, samples that leak, may cause delay in your result/s or having to be repeated.

Please ensure, that your Name and Date of Birth are on the container.

X-Ray

An X-ray is a widely used diagnostic test to examine the inside of the body.

X-rays are a very effective way of detecting problems with bones, such as fractures. They can also often identify problems with soft tissue, such as pneumonia or breast cancer.

An X-ray is usually carried out by a radiographer, a healthcare professional who specialises in using imaging technology, such as X-rays and ultrasound scanners. If you have been referred for an X-ray from a GP or clinician the results will come back to the surgery.

Patients who have been requested by the hospital to get blood samples done, must get these done at the Community Hub.

You can contact them on the Outpatient booking line.

01224 555177 or 0345 456 6000

Mon-Fri: 08:30-17:00

Saturday: 09:00-14:00

Other Tests

Blood Pressure Check

Blood pressure is the pressure created when blood is forced out of the heart and comes into contact with the walls of the arteries which transport blood around the body. The pressure of blood flowing in the arteries changes according to the different phases of the heartbeat cycle. The pressure in the arteries will be at its highest when the heart is ‘contracting’ and pumping blood out, and at its lowest as the heart relaxes before it pumps again.

Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers: the systolic pressure (as the heart beats) and the diastolic (as the heart relaxes between beats). The numbers are written one above or before the other, the systolic number on top and the diastolic on the bottom.

Your target blood pressure should be less than 150/90 unless you have been told otherwise. If you have any coronary heart disease such as angina or have had a heart attack or stroke, or have diabetes or kidney disease, it is better for your target blood pressure to be less than 130/80.

High blood pressure – hypertension – means that your blood pressure is constantly higher than the recommended target blood pressure. Over time if this is not treated, you become more at risk of heart disease or having a stroke.

You may be asked to come to see a nurse for a blood pressure check and if it is found to be above the recommended target, you may also be asked to have a number of tests – blood tests, an electrocardiogram (ECG), a painless procedure which records the electrical activity of the heart, ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) which records your blood pressure over a 12 hour period during the day – to help your doctor decide if treatment is necessary.

Blood pressure test - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Home Blood Pressure Monitoring

Surgery blood pressure measurements do not always give a true picture of what your blood pressure is doing over your normal day. Some people are found to have a higher blood pressure when at the surgery or when they are not relaxed.

It is now recommended that a better way to check your blood pressure is to measure it yourself each morning and evening when you are at home, relaxed and comfortable. This will then give us an idea as to what your blood pressure really is, and whether the measurement's we take in the surgery are similar to those you record at home.

If you have your own blood pressure monitor, you may be asked to record a series of readings over a week to be averaged and recorded in your notes. If you do not have your own machine, you may be loaned a machine from the surgery which a nurse will demonstrate how to use. (Please check with reception regarding the availability of blood pressure monitoring equipment).

If you are using your own monitor at home and the GP has asked you to hand in readings you can collect our blood pressure monitoring sheet from reception to ensure we have the correct amount of readings.

Doppler studies

A Doppler test managed by is undertaken to help measure the flow of blood through the arteries in your arms and legs using sound waves to make a noise when blood flow is detected. The Doppler is used in place of the stethoscope normally used when taking blood pressures. The test is to detect if there are any abnormalities in the flow of blood in your vessels.

A Doppler assessment is a painless procedure and often undertaken as part of any overall assessment of whether provision of support or compression hosiery (full length or knee-high stockings or socks) may be helpful to you.

What is a Doppler test? - Heart Matters - BHF

Hearing Tests (Audiometry)

Damage to any part of the ear can cause a hearing loss. Problems may occur in the ear canal, or the middle ear and hearing loss can be temporary or permanent. A hearing test checks whether there is a problem with any of the different mechanisms that allow a person to hear.

The test involves the use of a special machine called an audiometer, which plays a series of tones through headphones, which you will be asked to wear. The tones vary in pitch and loudness and the nurse conducting the hearing test will control the volume and tone of the sounds relayed through the machine. You will be asked to respond to each sound you hear even if very faint.

The results of a hearing test will form a graph called an audiogram. This will show if there is any pattern to the hearing loss you may be experiencing and help your audiologist assess the most appropriate management.

Hearing tests - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Spirometry

There are a number of chest conditions, which may cause breathing difficulties. Sometimes it is helpful to see how well you breathe out to help diagnose any condition or to see if the treatment you are having is working well. This may involve you blowing into a machine – a spirometer – which measures how well you can breathe out.

There are some requirements necessary before you have the test done, such as withholding use of your usual inhalers for a few hours, or usual tablets relating to any chest condition for 24 hours and avoiding vigorous exercise prior to the test.

Spirometry - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Spirometry with reversibility

Sometimes you will be asked to undertake a spirometry test with reversibility. This means you will be asked to blow into the machine without using your inhalers first and then again after you have used your inhalers.