How do we obtain samples?

How do we obtain samples?

If you’ve ever had a blood test after visiting your GP, or whilst in hospital, or as part of routine screening, it would probably have been passed to a pathology in lab. If you’re in Norfolk, it’s likely that yours was one of the 6,000 that pass through the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital pathology laboratories every day.

Garry John is a consultant in clinical biochemistry in the NNUH pathology labs. He and his team analyse the blood to assess your health, or identify infections or screen for conditions. Blood tests are central to the whole clinical process, but are also extremely useful for research.

Sometimes more blood is collected than is required for clinical purposes, in case follow-up tests are required. The excess sample is usually discarded, but if you consent to it being used for research it can provide a wealth of information on chemistry, biochemistry, cells and genetics.

With your consent, blood from your sample can be stored securely in the Biorepository, anonymised, and used for many different research purposes to tap into the wealth of information.

“The amount of information we can get from blood is phenomenal.”

Blood tests are a very convenient way of getting information about your health, and to help research into future diagnostic tests and treatments. They are simple and easy to collect and involve very little pain and inconvenience to you.

For more information bout blood tests in the NHS, see https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/blood-tests/