Immunology
Immunology studies the Immune processes in the body and their role in fighting disease.
The BCPS Immunology laboratory service based at the HUB provides a consultative and diagnostic laboratory service for investigating, monitoring and treating patients with disorders of the immune system. Our work involves measuring components such as antibodies, cells and proteins which are involved in the diagnosis of autoimmune disease, allergy and immunodeficiency plus immune system activation against latent TB.
The BCPS Immunology laboratory service is staffed by a team of Biomedical Scientists, Medical Laboratory Assistants, Senior MLAs, Clinical scientists and Consultant Immunologists.
Our Services
- Autoimmune investigations
- Immunodeficiency investigations
- Allergy investigations
- Latent TB investigations
Diagnostic Laboratory
The Immunology laboratory service operates as an integrated single diagnostic Immunology laboratory service under the auspices of the Black Country Pathology Service (BCPS) and is based at the Hub site at New Cross Hospital. The Immunology laboratory accepts and processes Immunology test requests from Primary and Secondary care clinicians and allied healthcare professions from all four BCPS Partner Trusts, namely The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust (SWBH), The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (DGHFT) and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. The BCPS Immunology laboratory also supports other external Trusts with Service Level agreements (SLA).
Immunology tests involve testing and measurement of various cells, proteins and components of the immune system that help with the diagnosis, management and monitoring of patients with suspected allergy, immunodeficiency or autoimmune conditions. This laboratory also provides specific screening tests for investigating suspected latent tuberculosis.
Clinical Advisory
Clinical oversight of the laboratory service and the tests offered in this laboratory is provided by a dedicated team of Consultant Immunologists and Clinical Scientists. This includes reviewing and updating the repertoire of tests offered to ensure that it is up to date and evidence-based, advising regarding immunology tests, providing appropriate clinical comments to aid interpretation of results and maintaining an oversight of the quality and performance of the laboratory. The Clinical Advisory service is available during the Laboratory operating hours and there is a named ‘Consultant of the Day’ during these hours (Monday to Friday 8.30 am – 4.30 pm).
Please note that BCPS Immunology does not provide a Clinical Immunology or Allergy service. The Clinical Immunology and Allergy services for this region (The Black Country) are located at Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust (SWBH) and The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (DGHFT) and any referrals or requests for clinical services must be directed to these individual clinical departments via the appropriate channels (e-RAS or e-mail referrals).
Quality Assurance
The BCPS Immunology laboratory is a UKAS accredited service against the standards ISO 15189. For a list of accredited services please refer to our scope at 9580 Medical Single (ukas.com) or using our Medical Laboratory number 9580.
We strive to perform all tests to the highest quality and participate in External Quality Assurance (EQA) and sample share schemes for all tests performed in-house.
Urgent Samples
The Immunology service can process urgent requests for antibodies to GBM, MPO and PR3 as long as the sample is received before 1pm. Any urgent requests must be discussed directly with the laboratory. Please telephone 01902 695279 to discuss requirement for urgent turnaround of results.
Add-on Requests
Please contact the laboratory via the general enquiries telephone or email for add-on requests. A member of the team will let the requestor know if this add-on can be fulfilled. Please note that ONLY routine Serum/Plasma samples are stored for up to 3 weeks (pending storage capacity), all other samples (EDTA) are retained for 7 days.
NOTE: Some tests have a shorter sample stability than retention times.
