Understanding your Blood Test Results

Your GP record is written to help medical staff look after you. This means that sometimes you may not understand everything you see. We have shared this information to help patients understand their test results, but if you have any further questions please speak to a member of our team. 

It is important to learn what's 'normal for you', this is particularly important if you have a long-term illness, as your results may be different to other people's. 

Significant things to consider about your results:

A test result outside the range may not indicate a problem, these are just reference ranges.
Equally, if all results are within the reference range, this does not completely guarantee there isn’t a concern.
Not all results are returned to us at the same time, we may be waiting for further results before contacting you. 
Comments may have been added automatically by a laboratory computer or by a laboratory scientist or doctor. Generally, comments are written for the doctor requesting the test rather than the patient, and so they may not be very meaningful to you.
It is important to follow the advice of your doctor or other healthcare professional. Always look out for our comments attached to results. Often these have critical information about the test and how to interpret the result. We have included below an explanation of some of the comments you may commonly see on your results.