General Information

General Information

List of Contacts

Any queries relating to service provision or the User Manual should be directed to the Laboratory Services and Networks Manager or the Quality Manager. Requests for advice regarding technical aspects of the service directed to a member of the Head of Laboratory Services.

Additional contact numbers are provided in the Table below.

Complaints & Compliments

Feedback from our users – both positive and negative – allows us to continually refine and improve the service we provide These may be submitted in the following manner:

Hours of Service

Normal Opening Hours: Monday to Friday (Except Public Holidays): 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For outside of routine working hours, weekends, public holidays and emergency situations please contact CARPHA at 1-868-622-4261/2 and 1-868-299-0895.

The declared public holidays in Trinidad and Tobago are as follows:

Referred Work

For the purposes of additional or confirmatory investigations, samples may be sent to one of our external referral laboratories:

Urgent Laboratory Investigation

To aid the Laboratory in identifying specimens that are deemed clinically or epidemiologically urgent, users are requested to follow the protocol below.

Please note: It is not sufficient to simply write urgent on the request form.

1. Contact the CARPHA Laboratory prior to sending the sample

If a sample is deemed urgent please contact Customer Service PRIOR to sending the sample

Email: customerservice@carpha.org
Phone: 1-868-3240869

2. Provide the name and contact number (mobile if possible) of person to contact re the result

It is ESSENTIAL that these contact details are accurate and a designated person is available to discuss the request as further information may be required before the sample is processed as urgent.

3. Ensure urgent samples are clearly identified particularly when they are included with routine delivery items

NOTE: Urgent samples should be packaged in a separate container/envelope and clearly marked as URGENT on the external packaging and request form.

4. Result reporting

It is ESSENTIAL that contact details are provided for results to be telephoned when required.

Submission of Specimens to CARPHA

Specimens must be routed through the relevant National Reference/ Public Health Laboratory or the Ministry of Health.

The following minimum information must accompany each specimen.

Telephone Results

The CARPHA Laboratory does not routinely communicate results by telephone.

However, the laboratory does appreciate that in certain circumstances, telephone communication of significant results may be indicated.

The following procedure is to be followed:
NOTE: It is not the policy of the laboratory to report results using the telephone except those classified as critical which are reported to authorized personnel.

CARPHA calling Laboratory: The Laboratory Director or designate will contact the requesting laboratory and document the exchange in the Telephone Log.

Laboratory calling CARPHA: If person calling is recognized as being authorized to receive the results then they can be given over the phone. If the person calling is not recognized the CARPHA staff will take the contact information and check the SOP- Reporting of Results (SOP-Q05-001) to determine whether the person is authorized to receive the results. Once checked the authorized person is contacted.

NOTE: The verbal release of the result is followed by release of the report in accordance with SOP- Reporting of Results (SOP-Q05-001).