Blood Tests

You may be asked to get blood tests in the week before your surgery.

This will depend on the nature of your surgery, and is often not needed for smaller procedures (like hysteroscopy).

If you are asked to get a blood test, it will generally include:

• Full blood count (this tells us the levels of blood cells, and can be useful to compare before and after surgery, as well as identify problems before the surgery such as anaemia)

• Kidney function (it is important to know how well your kidneys are functioning before giving certain medications, including anaesthetics and sedation)

• Group and Hold (this tests your blood type and ensures blood is available to give you in the case of unexpected heavy blood loss - this is routinely done for any major surgeries, such as hysterectomy)

Blood test request forms are usually sent electronically to Awanui labs (a list of their locations can be found here). 

Group and Hold forms have to be emailed through separately to the blood requests, and there have been occasions where the lab have not processed these. If this has been requested for you, we will let you know, and ask that you let the lab staff know that a group and hold has also been requested.