Coronavirus/Covid-19 Pathology Messages – England only

For Information Only

We have been advised by NHS Digital that once live results start being received, you may receive more than one test result with the same sample ID for some patient records.

If this happens, the following process applies:

If the results are the same – The result should be treated as a correct test result.
If the results are different – Both results require further investigation by NHS 111, and you are not required to do anything.

This only relates to multiple test results with the same sample ID, even if they have different dates.

Note - An individual may have multiple test results with different sample IDs, in this case each result is correct at the date of the sample.

Individuals will be contacted by NHS 119 where their test results are questionable. No further action is required from you.

This issue is due to users applying the same barcode (Sample ID) to multiple test kits. Over the last week, 3 tests in 300,000 resulted in two different results for one individual, and circa 75 duplicates with the same result.

Changes are underway to prevent this from occurring going forwards.