About 13,000 patients in Wellington and Taranaki have been contacted by Awanui Labs after receiving inaccurate lab results for a diabetes test.
The Terrace Medical Centre in Wellington said the processing issue has meant some of its patients might have been misdiagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes and had their medication unnecessarily adjusted.
Awanui Labs, New Zealand’s largest private medical testing company, said the unexpectedly high results were spotted by GPs after it changed its testing method at the end of March.
Chief operating officer Nick Champness said between March 31 and July 11, "some HbA1c (blood sugar) test results in Wellington and Taranaki may have delivered results higher than expected".
The company rectified the problem on July 12. Patients were contacted in late August.
One patient who was wrongly diagnosed with pre-diabetes told 1News the results "came as a real shock".
"I was devastated by the diagnosis and immediately started taking proactive measures including paying to see a nutritionist several times," they said.
"A few months later, I was tested again and was back in the normal zone. The letter I received from Awanui was quite vague in explaining the error and this left me with more questions."
The repeat blood test will come at no cost to patients, Awanui Labs said.
Champness added that anyone with higher-than-expected results should have been asked to retest anyway as part of the normal diagnosis process.
"We apologise for the worry this may have caused and are working closely with Health NZ and healthcare providers to ensure patients receive updated results and any follow-up consultations needed."
Awanui Labs said it’s very unlikely the issue will cause long-term health problems, noting that in most cases, the difference between results was small.
Patients who did not receive a letter will not be required to repeat the test.
Information and contact support lines can be found at Awanui Labs' website.
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