Otago anniversary day
All SCL collection centres in the Otago region will be closed on Monday 21 March for the Otago anniversary day.
LDL calculation change SDHB
From October 11, 2021 the biochemistry laboratory is changing the way that LDL cholesterol (LDLC) is calculated on the lipid profile. The current calculation (Friedewald’s formula) has been in use for almost 50 years. It estimates LDLC from the total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDLC) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations. The calculation assumes that triglyceride-containing lipoproteins […]
Queen’s birthday weekend
All collection centres will be closed for Queens Birthday – Monday 7 June. Normal business hours will resume at all sites on Tuesday 8 June.
Changes to vaginal culture swab processing
We have been reviewing our laboratory processes for vaginal culture swabs. The main purpose of this test is to detect bacterial vaginosis (BV) or candidiasis in women with vaginal discharge or othersymptoms of vaginitis. The Gram stain is the gold standard investigation for both BV and candidiasis.(1-3) BV diagnosis utilises a validated scoring system based […]
Mornington Health Collection Centre Closed
Please note that due to safety issues caused by a leak this collection centre will be closed until further notice. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
New Hawkes Bay Website
SCL are excited to announce that we have a new website built specifically for our Hawkes Bay patients and referrers. For any information relating to the Hawkes Bay region please visit www.awanuilabs.co.nz/central/hawkesbay
Patient Report Upgrades
Southern Community Labs and Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG) are scheduling an upgrade for the reports generated for Histology, Non-gynae Cytology, Bone Marrow, Flow Cytometry and Post-Mortem tests. Read more >>
Bowel Screening Report Changes
Southern Community Labs and Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG) are scheduling an upgrade for rich text reports on the evening of March 25, 2021. Reformatted Bowel Screening Programme reports are included as part of this change. Read more >>
COVID Testing Anniversary
The 13th March 2021 marks 1 year since testing for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was introduced at SCL Dunedin. Since then, SCL has expanded testing to 9 laboratories in its South Island network, with the Dunedin laboratory having performed over 80,000 tests. This represents a massive amount of work by the laboratory scientists, […]
Blood Lead Testing – Unavailable at SCL
Public Health free blood lead testing is not availabe at SCL Patient Service Centres. Please refer to the information on the DCC or Southern Health websites for information about free testing locations – see links below: https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/news-and-events/public-notices/alerts/water-notice https://www.southernhealth.nz/publications/community-blood-test-clinics-be-set-waikouaiti-next-week