Laboratory Services at Hanover & District Hospital

April 2, 2012

The Hospital operates a fully accredited clinical laboratory providing a range of testing.

The Hanover and District Hospital (HDH) operates a fully accredited clinical laboratory which provides a range of diagnostic testing for the in-patients, day surgery, emergency department patients, and patients of the hospital’s outpatient specialist clinics.  The range of tests performed on clinical specimens assist your physician and hospital staff in gathering information about your health with regard to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.

Services include specimen collection for hematology (the study of blood, and blood diseases), clinical chemistry analysis (generally concerned with the investigation of bodily fluids; i.e. urine, serum),  the preparation of specimens for further analysis at other labs and the performance of electrocardiograms (an electrical recording of the heart for the investigation of heart disease) and portable devices for cardiac monitoring such as Holter and Loop monitors which help determine if an individual has an undetected heart disease.

The technologists who work at the Hanover and District Hospital Laboratory are all qualified and licenced professionals.  The College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario is the licencing body for the profession.  It is our obligations to the public to ensure the staff maintain up to date knowledge and skills, and to acquire new equipment for accurate testing.  Furthermore, the laboratory staff successfully engages in two separate accreditation processes; Accreditation Canada (AC) and the Ontario Laboratory Accreditation (OLA).  OLA is very detailed and reviews over 500 quality parameters. 

While the hospital’s laboratory functions to provide services for the hospital’s in-patients, there continues to be a need for some outpatient work.  Over the past year, the volume of specimens collected and analysed by the laboratory staff has grown by approximately 10.8%.   Much of this is attributed to the busy emergency department and the growing surgical program.  The ongoing success of the Laboratory Services has been attained through the commitment of highly qualified staff, the development of partnerships, and an ever vigilant focus on quality.  Tests performed are closely monitored and quality controlled.

One of the key partnerships the laboratory is involved in, is the Inter-Hospital Laboratory Partnership (IHLP).  As a partner in this group, the laboratory staff has been able to participate in large joint purchase ventures for upgraded, state of the art equipment.  An added benefit includes huge cost savings in the purchase of the equipment. The partnership also provides standardized policies, procedures, resources and support to continue to validate and ensure the quality of laboratory services is second to none, providing safe, reliable patient care. 

For More Information Contact: Katrina Wilson, President and CEO. Phone: (519)364-2341 Ext. 206