Blog
Our name is changing – introducing Awanui Labs
We are proud to announce, Medlab South will be changing its name and brand to Awanui Labs within the next month. Moving to become Awanui Labs is a significant milestone for our organisation. Many may not be aware that Medlab South is part of a nationwide network of eight laboratory brands that span Aotearoa. Our […]
Upgrade to MLS Nelson/Marlborough Laboratory Information System
We’re upgrading our Laboratory Information Systems. Here is how it will affect referrers: From November 14, Medlab South Nelson/Marlborough will be going live with upgrades to its Laboratory Information System (LIS). This is part of a nationwide initiative that will refresh our existing LIS. Not only does this upgrade make for a more robust system, […]
The next generation of prenatal screening now in NZ
We’re excited to announce the next generation of non-invasive prenatal screening, Illumiscreen, is now available in Aotearoa New Zealand from across the APHG laboratory network. Non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS), sometimes known as NIPT, has been available for quite some time to screen fetal DNA for trisomy 21 (Down), 18 (Edward), 13 (Patau). We now have the latest […]
New D-dimer units for Nelson/Marlborough
All diagnostic laboratories in New Zealand are standardising to the same reporting units for D-Dimer. We will change our D-Dimer reporting units from mg/L to ug/L FEU (fibrinogen-equivalent units) (e.g. 0.5 mg/L to 500 ug/L FEU). The new cut-offs will be: Age (years old)Cut-off (ug/L FEU)≤ 50500≤ 60600≤ 70700≤ 80800≤ 90900>911000 Date to be implemented […]
Restricted hospital access
Nelson Hospital and Wairau Hospital are currently restricting access to the hospital. This means that our hospital based collection centres are not open to community patients, except for exceptional circumstances. Please ensure you book at a community based clinic in the first instance. See our list of collection centres for options.
Can we improve our online booking system?
We are looking at ways we can improve our online blood test booking system and would love your feedback. If you have used this online system, we would really appreciate it if you could spare a minute to complete a very brief survey. Your feedback will help ensure the booking system is user-friendly and makes […]
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 […]
Patient Report Upgrades
Medlab South 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
Medlab South 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 >>