Groves Hospital and LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services announced on Monday that LifeLabs will begin delivering services to patients in the communities of Fergus, Elora, Arthur, and surrounding area, starting later this month.
The move is to ensure continuity in lab services to a growing population. Patients will have the same access to the same services at the same location. Starting March 31, formerly MDS Laboratories, will operate a full service location where local patients can go to have specimens collected for numerous laboratory tests ordered by area physicians.
The facility is on the site of the existing collection centre scheduled for closure on March 28. It is located in Groves Hospital’s parking lot.
The new centre will be open 7am to 5pm Monday to Friday, the same hours of operation as its predecessor.
Groves Chief Executive Officer Joel Quenneville said in an interview on Monday that the hospital will take on some advantages with the new arrangement.
He noted that with Hospitals in Common, the old collection agency, hospital patients had to leave the hospital and cross the parking lot to be tested, but now they will have that work done in the basement of Groves.
Meanwhile, the service, down to the hours of operation, will remain the same for people visiting for such things as blood tests.
In addition to community patient specimen collection, LifeLabs will offer the following services to physicians and long-term care facilities associated with Groves Memorial Community Hospital:
– delivery of supplies for specimen collection;
– a range of community laboratory testing;
- electrocardiograms (ECGs); and
– delivery of test results.
“Until now, laboratory testing services were delivered to our local residents through a pilot project administered by the hospital and the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care,” said Quenneville. “We are pleased that with the help of LifeLabs these vital services continue to be offered to our community. It’s not a big change in service,” Quenneville said. “Tests are basically the same, but there will be more efficient sending result,” of test information to family doctors.
