Patient Experience
The Biochemistry Department provides routine, emergency, and specialist investigations for St James’s Hospital, numerous external healthcare agencies, and a substantial number of general practitioners.
The laboratory processes in the region of 2,500 blood samples daily, amounting to 850,000 patient samples in a year and performs over 8 million tests per annum.
In addition, the Biochemistry Department is an academic department within the Trinity College Dublin Medical School and is also an intrinsic contributor to the training and education of biomedical scientists from Technological University Dublin.
There is an on-call service for urgent work outside normal hours and on weekends and bank holidays.
We offer the following services:
The primary source of information for users is the LabMed User Guide.
St James’s Hospital’s Biochemistry Department provides specialised testing in endocrine, molecular and non-routine biochemistry for other users by Service Level Agreement (SLA).
New external hospital users need to contact the Laboratory Manager to set up an SLA.
Dr. Vivion Crowley Consultant Chemical Pathologist
(01) 4162935 vcrowley@stjames.ie
Mr. Mark Neville Chief Medical Scientist Biochemistry
(01) 4162041 mneville@stjames.ie
Ms. Aine Scanlon Chief Medical Scientist Core Lab
(01) 4162052 ascanlon@stjames.ie
Ms. Sarah Savage Chief Medical Scientist Porphyria and Biochemical Genetics
(01) 4162054 ssavage@stjames.ie
Ms. Mgt. Mc Cormack Chief Medical Scientist Bone/Gastro/Steroids
(01) 4162937 mmccormack2@stjames.ie
St James’s Hospital’s Biochemistry Department operates via the HealthLink electronic system for GPs, which facilitates electronic ordering and results. Any new GP practice must contact the Labaratory IT Manager to sign up to this system. A mobile contact number is required for GPs for the phoning of critical results outside of surgery hours.
Via post:
Chemical Pathology
St James's Hospital
Dublin 8
St James’s Hospital's Biochemistry Department is the de facto national centre for the diagnosis of acute hepatic and cutaneous porphyria.
In addition, it provides a genetic diagnostic service for dyslipidaemias including familial hypercholesterolaemia and type III hyperlipidaemia.
In association with these specialist laboratory services, the consultant chemical pathologist operates a weekly Porphyria-Metabolic Clinic, principally focused on the clinical management of porphyrias and primary dyslipidaemias.
Patient referrals to this clinic can be enabled by contacting Dr Vivion Crowley at vcrowley@stjames.ie or (01) 416 2935. Alternatively, contact the Chemical Pathology Medical Team on (01) 416 2047 or (01) 410 3875.
Other specialist laboratory service include:
The Biochemistry Department in St James’s Hospital is fully accredited under ISO 15189 under the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB), registration number 327MT, and prior to this was fully accredited under CPA.
All medical and scientific staff in the Biochemistry Department maintains competencies through continuous professional development (CPD) and training.
The department is also involved in training students as part of their undergraduate programmes. The Biochemistry Department is a designated training centre on the RCPI Higher Specialist Training Programme for Chemical Pathology.
The Biochemistry Department is continuously involved in research and development projects both within the laboratory itself and through collaboration with clinical and research teams within St James’s Hospital and Trinity College Dublin, as well as external academic and healthcare institutions.
Specific areas of clinical research include:
Pathology (or Laboratory Medicine as it is also known) encompasses that aspect of medical practice which is concerned with understanding the mechanisms and diagnosis of disease.
Within the realm of laboratory medicine, chemical pathology (or Clinical Biochemistry or Clinical Chemistry as it is otherwise known) is a critical diagnostic support service which applies the principles of biochemical and genetic analysis to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of a broad range of clinical disorders.
Moreover, chemical pathology has a particularly prominent role in the clinically effective management of a wide spectrum of endocrine and metabolic diseases, including the use of specialist testing. In addition, biochemical testing is one of the most common diagnostic activities undertaken in the evaluation of acutely ill patients, where it has a vital role in the initial assessment of patient care. It is also a fundamental diagnostic component in both outpatient and primary care management of disease.
One of the key elements underpinning chemical pathology practice, is the development of a quality management system which ensures a quality-assured, precise and accurate laboratory testing service for both healthcare professionals and their patients. Furthermore, a range of highly educated and trained medical, scientific and administrative staff are required to establish and maintain the professional laboratory medicine service provided by the Biochemistry Department at St James’s Hospital.