About Pathology

The Pathology Service at Derriford Hospital provides a wide range of tests for both the hospital and surrounding GP services,  along with some more specialist testing which we also provided for our neighbouring hospitals. Our experienced team of medical and scientific staff also provide an advisory service to help in the correct selection of tests, advice on antimicrobial treatment and on the interpretation of results. The service is provided by three departments: Cellular and Anatomical Pathology, Microbiology and Derriford Combined Laboratories (blood sciences). We receive between 8 and 9,000 individual patient samples each day and over the course of a year issue approximately 9 million test results, most of which are for blood sciences, but include around 500,000 microbiology results and 38,000 histopathological diagnoses.

Mission statement

We are committed to providing a consistently high quality, cost-effective and innovative service that meets the needs of our patients and users. Working with partners across the Peninsula we will further improve efficiency and optimise delivery for patient pathways.

We are committed to providing a high quality service, however, if you have any concerns or suggestions about the service please contact the department directly.  If you are unhappy about the response you may contact the PAtient Advice and Liaison Service (Complaints).

Review Status

Reviewed December 2023
This page will be updated June 2024

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