For Patients

As the Western Australian public pathology and forensic service, PathWest plays a unique and integral role in our healthcare system, working with a wide range of health professionals to ensure the optimal health, safety and well being of thousands of Australians.

Performing over 16 million tests each year, through an integrated network of accredited laboratories and pathology collection centres, PathWest helps to monitor disease, inform clinical diagnosis and treatment, as well as working to support and deliver the research, development programs and education unerpinning tomorrow's health.

We take great pride in putting the health and well being of our communities first and operating for the benefit of Western Australians. We are a key service provider in our public health system, committed to ensuring equitable, quality, timely and affordable pathology services available to all Western Australians, regardless of where they live.

We also take a lead role in public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 response, by mobilising collection and courier services, developing new testing protocols, delivering world-leading test turnaround times for large volumes of patient samples and providing consultative expertise.

Learn more about your pathology test

We’ll need to see a request form from your doctor in order to perform a test on you, so before you attend a collection centre, please make sure you’ve seen your doctor and bring your request form with you. If you feel a specific test may help you, please speak to your doctor for advice.
Yes, you can bring a pathology referral form from any provider to our collection centres and we’ll perform the test.

For most tests you won’t need to make an appointment, but please be aware that our collection centres are busiest in the morning when fasting patients are often advised to arrive.

If you are having a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT), please call your preferred location to book an appointment as this test can take up to three hours.

You’ll need to bring a valid Medicare card and your pathology request form as completed by your doctor. We accept all pathology request forms.

Additionally, we'll ask for photo ID if you are having a test for any of the following purposes: immigration, occupational, parentage DNA, insurance, drug screening or court-ordered testing.

A blood test involves collecting a sample of blood from a vein in your arm. Our collection staff (phlebotomists) are highly trained to do this and all our equipment is sterile.

It’s vital we ensure all your personal details are correct so we’ll ask for your Medicare card as part of the identification process. We’ll show you the labelling on the specimen containers to confirm your details.

The collector will find a suitable vein, cleanse the area of skin with an alcohol swab and then insert a sterile needle into your vein to obtain the sample.

It’s important that you avoid heavy lifting and strenuous exercise over the next 24 hours to avoid bruising or bleeding. 
Yes. Patient and staff safety are extremely important to us. We undertake a variety of measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients attending and staff working at PathWest collection centres. We have also implemented additional measures in keeping with public health directives and standards for COVID-19. You can read more about these here.

We understand that you might be anxious about your test results, but in order to protect patient privacy we release results directly to the health professional who requested the test. Learn more about this here.

Please contact your doctor to speak about your results as each doctor will have their own preferred way of delivering results to their patients.

Alternatively, if you have My Health Record you can access your results from your account after seven days.

There’s no formal restriction on directly contacting a pathologist, but the best person to interpret and discuss your results with you is your doctor. This is because pathology results should be interpreted in the context of other factors which may not be known to the pathologist, including your medical history and physical examination.

We strongly recommend speaking to your doctor if you have any questions about your results.
Yes, you are legally entitled to a copy of your pathology test results although your doctor is in the best position to understand and interpret your results and the potential impact to your health.

If you’d like a copy of your results, you should request them directly from your doctor.

Even if arrangements have been made for you to receive a written copy of your pathology results, we are unable to release them verbally over the phone due to patient confidentiality.

Medicare may cover some of the cost of your pathology bill, so once you’ve paid your account you can claim a rebate from Medicare. There are some tests and services provided by PathWest that aren’t covered by Medicare and will incur a charge.

Find more information about pathology billing and charges. 

If you’re a Pensioner or Health Care Card holder, PathWest will bulk bill all Medicare-rebateable items. If you hold a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, your account will be billed directly to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and you won’t be required to pay an account.

Your feedback is important because it lets us know what’s working well and what can be improved. You can share your feedback with us by visiting the Customer Service area of our website.
Last Updated: 03/01/2023