Cawthron Laboratory Testing Update

09 March 2022

As we all work around the disruption Covid-19 is causing to our personal lives and businesses, we want to reassure our customers that we are committed to maintaining the high standard and quality of our analytical testing services, as always. However, some level of disruption is unavoidable despite our best efforts to respond to these challenges.

Turnaround Times

Increased staff absence and delays in consumables will soon affect our ability to report results within our standard turnaround times. Requests for urgent testing may not be possible, and critical analyses must be pre-arranged with the laboratory.

For shellfish biotoxin customers, if turnaround times in our toxin monitoring programme are forced to change, we will get in touch directly with the main contacts at delivery centres.

Courier Services

We expect that courier delays will continue to increase, which we are unable to control. We recommend that you use extra chilling and insulation for perishable/temperature sensitive samples. Samples requiring time-critical testing should be sent as quickly as possible, but be aware that delays may impact our ability to test within agreed timeframes.

How we are responding

  • Cawthron is following the government guidelines on mask wearing, good hygiene and social distancing, we are reducing the chance of spread to our teams and their families.
  • Teams remain in strict ‘bubbles’ and/or shifts to ensure we have contingency for all testing capabilities.
  • The use of Rapid Antigen Testing will permit critical work to continue.

If you have any questions or concerns please get in touch with our laboratory services team and we will reply as soon as possible. 

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