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Agree with David - the expiry date relates to vacuum and once the blood is in the tube it's irrelevant. We don't do any of this and I would be very concerned about the additional burden. I strongly suspect there is no evidence base. Mike -----Original Message----- From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Spencer Sent: 28 November 2011 15:26 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Out of date specimen collection containers With apologies to those outside of the UK. Recently (Septemebr 2011) the UK National Screening Committee posted a Learning from Serious Incidents report on its web site (http://www.screening.nhs.uk/si-learning) which suggests that All Laboratories participating in the NHS Screening programmes are required to check every sample arriving in the laboratory to ensure that the primary blood or urine container is not out of manufacturer's expiry date. It also suggests that this is part of CPA E5.2 standard practice. Furthermore there is a suggestion that this should be part of routine practice for any lab. In the era of Ward order and GP order comms many labs receive samples with specimen ID and barcode labels covering up any manufacturer's information. Also many labs that are secondary referal centres like screenig labs - will not receive the primary container and therefore cannot check tis aspect. My question is a) to those screening centres (ie Down's screening labs, HBO screening labs and Infectious Diseases Screening Labs) - how many centres actually check for indate specimen containers on all samples received. b) If you do not - how feasible or difficult would this be to perform this. For routine Biochemistry Services - how many labs have a process in place to comply with in date specimen containers and do you check all samples coming into the lab. For any labs that have taken this one step further - what if anything are the consequences for screening tests and for any other test of using an out of date sample conainer. I will post a summary of any response received. ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and they are responsible for all message content. ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk Green Laboratories Work http://www.laboratorymedicine.nhs.uk List Archives http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and they are responsible for all message content. ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk Green Laboratories Work http://www.laboratorymedicine.nhs.uk List Archives http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/