Rabies Testing Laboratory Closure and Upgrades – Now Open

UPDATE – PUBLISHED 21SEP22

We are pleased to announce that all of the maintenance and upgrade works in our rabies facility are now complete and we will resume testing from today. We will work through the backlog of samples as quickly as possible but for any urgent samples our rabies express service is now available. We would like to apologise for the delay in us resuming testing, this was due to circumstances beyond our control.

UPDATE – PUBLISHED 15SEP22

This year we had an extended shutdown to perform some essential upgrade works and while most of these works have now been completed an issue has been identified with a critical piece of equipment. Due to circumstances beyond our control the repair of this equipment has not yet been completed so we have been unable to restart testing this week as originally planned. Our contractors and engineers are working tirelessly to complete the necessary repairs and we are hopeful that these will be completed on Monday morning. All being well we therefore hope to begin testing the backlog of samples on Monday afternoon.

We will be testing samples in order of receipt and all express samples will be put on the first available test. It may take us 2 – 3 weeks to catch up with testing so new samples received may not have results until mid October.

Please accept our apologies for this additional delay. We will be working to get results to our customers as quickly as possible.

Please check our website regularly for further updates or email us if you have any questions.

We will be shutting down our high containment rabies testing laboratory temporarily in order to complete our routine biannual maintenance. This shutdown is required to enable our engineers to gain access to the laboratory for routine servicing in order to ensure that the laboratory and equipment are maintained to the highest standard.

As well as our routine maintenance we will also be performing some plant upgrades to improve reliability of some of our safety critical equipment. This additional work will mean the shutdown period will be slightly longer than normal, however it will mean our rabies service will be even more reliable moving forward.

All other areas of our business will operate as normal during this period.

This work will start in August 2022 with a timetable as follows:

15 Aug 22 (Mon) Last tests will be set up
17 Aug 22 (Wed) Tests from 15 Aug 22 will be read and reported.
Week of 12 Sep 22 Normal testing resumes (Exact date subject to engineer service sign off).
19 Sep 22 (Mon) First results will be reported.

This means that for a period of approximately one month, no rabies testing will be available. We will naturally use our best endeavours to ensure the upgrade works are completed as quickly as possible in order to minimise the downtime and service disruptions to our customers. During the shutdown we will post updates on our social media channels to confirm exact re-start dates. 

As with previous shutdowns we will clear the testing backlog as quickly as possible to ensure your results get back to you within our normal published timescales. Once the facility returns to normal operations our express service will be available for any urgent samples, all other samples will be processed in order or receipt.

Express testing will not be available during the shutdown as the unit is closed and no tests can be set up.

If you are aware of any clients that may require certificates before 19 Sep 22 we would encourage you to send in samples as soon as possible in order to avoid disappointment.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you require any further information regarding the shutdown.