Service Interruption to Select Laboratory Testing Services (May 22-25)

Public Health Ontario (PHO) will implement a planned system upgrade to strengthen laboratory operations and support reliable, timely testing services. The upgrade will take place from Friday, May 22 at 4:00 p.m. to Monday, May 25 at 8:30 a.m. During the upgrade, select laboratory services will be temporary paused.

What this means for you:

Private Water Testing
Private water testing will also pause during the scheduled system upgrade. As a result, the following will be unavailable from Thursday, May 21 at 4:00 p.m. to Monday, May 25 at 8:30 a.m.:

• Water sample drop off
• Submitting requisitions (including the Water Testing Portal)
• Access to test results (via portal, phone, mail, email, or in person)

All services will resume on Monday, May 25 at 8:30 a.m. There may be some delay in receiving results (up to 72 hours) following this period.

We appreciate your continued collaboration in supporting Ontario’s public health system. For questions, please contact PHO’s Laboratory Customer Service Centre:

• Phone: 1-877-604-4567 (Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.; Saturday 8:00 a.m.–3:45 p.m.)
• Email: customerservicecentre@oahpp.ca

Clinical and Environmental Testing
Most clinical and environmental testing will be temporarily paused, including:

• Needlestick testing (source only)
• Testing for high-risk patients presenting in labour who have not received prenatal care testing, will be temporarily paused.

PHO will continue to accept clinical and environmental specimens in accordance with standard protocols. Samples received during this period will be securely held and processed starting May 25 at 8:30 a.m. once systems are restored.

For testing guidance, questions or to consult with a microbiologist, please continue to contact our Laboratory Customer Service Centre during the upgrade.

During this time, results and status updates will not be available via PHO autofax, mail, or Laboratory Customer Service. These results will be available once service is restored on Monday, May 25, at 8:30 p.m.

Results for testing completed up until 4 p.m. on May 22 will be available in the Ontario Laboratory Information System (OLIS), accessed through Ontario Health’s ONE Health Portal.

While results are expected to remain within the turnaround times published on test information pages, some clients may experience delays of up to 72 hours compared to typical timelines.

Urgent and Critical Testing
Only limited urgent testing will be performed, including:

• Measles PCR (as requested by public health units and related to an outbreak investigation)
• Bioterrorism (BT) samples
• Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) samples
• Malaria confirmation testing

Specimens that are difficult or impossible to recollect (e.g., CSF, tissue, autopsy, or infant specimens) or at risk of losing stability will continue to be processed during the planned upgrade according to established stability criteria; however, results will not be available until the system is restored on Monday, May 25 at 8:30 a.m.

All other requests for urgent testing will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Please contact our Laboratory Customer Service Centre by phone at 1-877-604-4567 (including requests for urgent outbreak-related testing).

When sending urgent samples, please notify the Customer Service Centre by phone at 1-877-604-4567. Urgent samples must be packaged and shipped separately from routine specimens in a clearly marked package indicating ‘URGENT’.

During the scheduled upgrade, our testing teams will directly contact submitting clients by phone to report urgent test results.

Private Water Testing
Private water testing will also pause during the scheduled system upgrade. As a result, the following will be unavailable from Thursday, May 21 at 4:00 p.m. to Monday, May 25 at 8:30 a.m.:

• Water sample drop off
• Submitting requisitions (including the Water Testing Portal)
• Access to test results (via portal, phone, mail, email, or in person)

All services will resume on Monday, May 25 at 8:30 a.m. There may be some delay in receiving results (up to 72 hours) following this period.

We appreciate your continued collaboration in supporting Ontario’s public health system. For questions, please contact PHO’s Laboratory Customer Service Centre:

• Phone: 1-877-604-4567 (Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.; Saturday 8:00 a.m.–3:45 p.m.)
• Email: customerservicecentre@oahpp.ca