COVID-19 testing instruments repaired

For Immediate Release:
September 25, 2020

LONDON, Ontario - The testing instruments required to process COVID-19 tests have been repaired at the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PaLM) COVID-19 testing laboratory at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). 

There is approximately a one-day backlog of COVID-19 test results as a result of the unexpected and critical downtime, but it is expected that the normal 24-hour turnaround for test results will resume on Monday, September 28. 

We would like to thank our community for its patience as we worked quickly and diligently to restore these critical testing instruments. COVID-19 testing is an important part of keeping our community safe.  

PaLM is a joint venture of LHSC and St. Joseph’s Health Care London. The labs provide a comprehensive range of routine and specialized testing and clinical consultation for patient care within southwestern Ontario and beyond.


About London Health Sciences Centre
London Health Sciences Centre has been at the forefront of medicine in Canada for 145 years and offers the broadest range of specialized clinical services in Ontario. Building on the traditions of its founding hospitals to provide compassionate care in an academic teaching setting, London Health Sciences Centre is home to Children’s Hospital, University Hospital, Victoria Hospital, the Kidney Care Centre, two family medical centres, and two research institutes – Children’s Health Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute. As a leader in medical discovery and health research, London Health Sciences Centre has a history of over 70 international and national firsts and attracts top clinicians and researchers from around the world. As a regional referral centre, London Health Sciences Centre cares for the most medically complex patients including critically injured adults and children in southwestern Ontario and beyond. The hospital’s nearly 15,000 staff, physicians, students and volunteers provide care for more than one million patient visits a year. For more information visit www.lhsc.on.ca  


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