Hematology

Hematology looks at the cells in your blood — red cells, white cells and platelets — and at how well your blood clots. A complete blood count shows whether you are anaemic, fighting an infection or running low on platelets, and the five-part differential splits the white cells into their five types so the pattern behind a raised count becomes clearer.

Blood films are examined under the microscope whenever the analyser flags an abnormality, and clotting tests are run on freshly collected plasma so the times are not distorted by delay.