Test Results (Blood and Urine) – Merton Lodge Surgery

When you attend for a test of any kind you will be told how long you should expect to wait for the results. Please bear this in mind and only call the surgery once sufficient time has elapsed, please allow 14 days for blood tests and urine tests.

You can contact our medical secretaries by phone between 9am-12pm Monday-Friday for test results or you can contact us anytime 24-7 online. You won’t receive a response out of hours, but you’ll have peace of mind that you will be responded to as soon as we can, without queuing on the phone! You can also now check your results via the NHS App, please note that some tests are reported on sooner by the lab than others this is because some tests require more in-depth analysis which can take several days. This means that results will become available on the NHS app staggered over several days, please allow 14 days for all results to be available.

Our reception staff are not trained to comment on test results, so they will pass your enquiry to the medical secretaries. Although the practice will usually contact you directly if any action is required following your test, it is your responsibility to follow up on test results (by phone, online or via the NHS app) and make any necessary follow-up appointments, if advised to do so.

Please note that we do have a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection. 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.

What do your test results mean?

Normal, no further action – Your test results require no follow up and are within normal range.

Satisfactory or Borderline – Your result is close to normal range and not concerning.

Abnormal, but expected – Your result is in keeping with your known medical condition(s) or current treatment and no further action is required.

Abnormal, repeat test – Your result has come back outside the normal reference range and the lab have suggested a repeated test.

Abnormal – Your result has come back outside of normal range and could indicate a potential issue.

Specimen lost/unusable, repeat test – Unfortunately, there has been a problem getting a result. This may be due to:

A delay in samples reaching the laboratory
A label problem
An incorrect specimen container used
An error in the laboratory