How to read NHS blood test results in hospital letter

[trappedwind]

I recently took some stool and blood tests.

Sadly, a day after I took the stool test I got a phone call from my GP who told me that I had blood in my stools and that I had to be referred to the hospital.

The next day I took my blood test.

A day after that I had a phone call with the hospital nurse to book an endoscopy, colonoscopy and CT scan. She explicitly said unprompted "oh, we haven't got your blood results yet", which is not surprising given that I was told that they would take 3-5 working days to process and would not be available before the next week (due to Easter).

I have now received a letter with the notes of the conversation, that was sent from the nurse to my GP. It was timestamped the exact time of my conversation with her (to the minute), and it noted that the blood test had been taken the day before.

What is really freaking me out is that under blood test results, she has several acronyms ranging from Ferrentin (=) to EGFR (=), there were no numbers accompanying it (and no symbols other than "=")

Was this:

(a) A list of the tests that had been done
(b) A list of the result that had come in and were "normal" - no problem

or

(c) Tests that had come back abnormal

I'm inclined to think it is (a) or (b) given my GP hasn't contacted me, and it didn't specify how they were abnormal.

Could anyone with experience of the NHS let me know. I'm very worried, especially with the idea that I had kidney disease (which I had never considered as my problems are in my stomach), as well as the idea that she's said one thing, while knowing something else.

[NoraB]

Just sounds like she was simply informing your GP what she was testing for...

Your iron levels will be tested for sure...

[Pamplemousse]

In some of my tests I have seen '+' for elevated. I'm neither physician or phlebotomist but I would take the '=' to mean 'normal'/'within range'.

I'm surprised at the delay in getting blood results because with my local practice, they're usually the next day - the only one that takes time is the HBa1c for whatever reason. Most of the tests are automated now. But I suppose Easter would put a spanner in the works.

eGFR is "estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate" which is a kidney function test - I have it done regularly because of my diabetes and hypertension. It is a very good measure of how well your kidneys are doing.