Please call between 11:00 and 15:30 to enquire about your test results as our reception staff will have more time to deal with your request between these times.

Note that the practice has a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection and we will only release test results to the person to whom they relate unless that person has given prior permission for the release of this data or they are not capable of understanding the results.

When you take your test you will be told how long it will be before the results are returned to the practice.

It is your responsibility to check your results and to make an appointment to discuss them with your doctor if you are advised to do so.

A blood test is when a sample of blood is taken for testing in a laboratory. Blood tests have a wide range of uses and are one of the most common types of medical test. For example, a blood test can be used to:

• assess your general state of health
• confirm the presence of a bacterial or viral infection
• see how well certain organs, such as the liver and kidneys, are functioning

A blood test usually involves the phlebotomist taking a blood sample from a blood vessel in your arm and the usual place for a sample is the inside of the elbow or wrist, where the veins are relatively close to the surface. Blood samples from children are most commonly taken from the back of the hand. The childs hand will be anaesthetised (numbed) with a special cream before the sample is taken.

You can find out more about blood tests, their purpose and the way they are performed on the NHS Choices website.

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.

If you have an X-ray, you will be asked to lie on a table or stand against a surface so that the part of your body being X-rayed is between the X-ray tube and the photographic plate.

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.

You can find out more about x-ray tests, how they are performed, their function and the risks by visiting the NHS Choices website.

If you have been given access to view your test results online or via the NHS App, these will become available after one of the doctors has viewed and commented on them. Some results arrive in the practice with a comment from the lab of “Abnormal” or will show with a little red marker outside the normal range. It is important to look at the comment of the doctor who has viewed the result rather than this lab marker!

The marker which says “normal” may not be appropriate for you

In some situations the lab will view a result as normal when it is not correct for you. One example of this would be a patient on treatment for gout. The normal range for the test goes up to a value of 450, but if you are on treatment we target a value of below 300.

The marker which says “abnormal” may not be appropriate for you

The lab marker is based on a sample, if your result is in the same range as 95% of normal tests it will be marked as normal – so 5% of “normal” tests will be marked as abnormal.