How Long Do Blood Tests Take To Process?

If you have been referred for a blood test or are looking into certain types of elective tests, you will want to know how long you need to wait in order to get your results and the clarity that can often come with them.

Because of the sheer variety of blood tests available, as well as a range of other factors that can delay collecting samples, booking appointments and scheduling time in laboratories and with blood testing machines, the turnaround time can vary considerably.

This is particularly true with blood tests on the NHS, where priority scheduling and low capacity relative to demand can lead to weeks or sometimes months of delays.

The good news is that by booking a blood test at our laboratory, you will skip many of the issues that can cause delays, and in some cases, you can have your results back in as little as an hour.

However, there are a lot of factors that can lead to such variations in testing timescales, and here are some of the most common reasons why a test may take more or less time.

Rarity Of Test

The more common and requested a blood test is, the faster it can be processed due to greater access to the machinery and laboratories required.

The full blood count (FBC), which is a relatively general test to check for a wide variety of conditions, is a starting point before booking more specific tests and acts as an overview of overall health. It can sometimes be completed from pinprick to results in less than three hours.

By contrast, a rarer bespoke test, such as those that test for rarer forms of cancer, can take longer because they require specific testing equipment and specialists to check for particular biomarkers that indicate a tumour.

Complexity Of Test

Some tests can be completed fairly quickly, such as lipid panel tests for cholesterol, tests of thyroid function and blood tests for diabetes.

By contrast, blood culture tests, which are typically used to diagnose fungal and bacterial infections, can take up to seven days due to the length of time it can take to cultivate a culture large enough to detect.

Other tests, particularly those involving genetic testing or DNA, can take considerably longer to complete.

Access To Laboratory Equipment

One of the reasons why we can offer same-day blood testing is that we have a well-equipped on-site laboratory, which means we can take a blood sample and process it right away to provide results quickly.

Typically, having blood taken in the same facility as the equipment will lead to faster results, as home testing kits will typically take between 24 and 48 hours to travel via post to the laboratory. If the results are to be set via post, this can add additional time to the wait.

This can also be the case for blood tests requested by a GP at a clinic which does not have nearby testing equipment, as they will need to take a sample that will be sent to a clin