laboratory index> Derriford Hospital, Plymouth

Derriford Hospital, Plymouth

Plymouth NHS Trust provides General Hospital Services to a local population of 430,000 people in Plymouth, West Devon, South Hams and East Cornwall. Specialist services are provided to more than 1.6 million people in Devon and Cornwall and to neighbouring areas of Dorset and Somerset. Most major specialties are provided including haematology and bone-marrow transplantation, immunology, nephrology and renal transplantation, neurosurgery and cardiothoracic surgery. The hospital also provides medical support to the British Antarctic Survey.

Derriford Hospital is situated in the north of the city of Plymouth. It has 1,164 beds and deals with over 270,000 outpatients, 63,000 inpatients and 86,000 accident and emergency attendances per year. The Trust also encompasses the Royal Eye Infirmary and Scott and Mount Gould Hospitals.

Address

Clinical Biochemistry

Derriford Combined Laboratory                                                       

Derriford Hospital           

Plymouth

The Department of Clinical Biochemistry

Consultants	Dr Ruth Ayling (Chemical Pathologist) Mr Roger Williams (Consultant Clinical Biochemist)
Pathology Manager	Mr Rob Boon
Clinical Scientist	Dr Jinny Jeffery
Medical Staff	Dr Tej Nataraj

Laboratory Organisation

Derriford Combined laboratory provides biochemistry, haematology, immunology, molecular biology and cell culture.  The workload is >650,000 requests/year of which >550,000 are chemistry with 40% of workload from GPs.  The automated laboratory is currently being refitted with a Roche modular system with full pre-analytics for standard biochemistry and endocrinology.

Within the special investigations section there are facilities for HPLC, CSF spectrophotometry, trace metal analysis, therapeutic drug monitoring (cyclosporin, tacrolimus, methotrexate) and urine drugs of abuse testing.  The laboratory actively supports Point of Care Testing.   The department is computerised using an Apex laboratory system with links to wards and GP surgeries.  Progress is being made towards electronic patient records.

Dr Ruth Ayling                          Mr Roger Williams