Home Newsroom Come and see us at our new collection service at Charlestown!

Come and see us at our new collection service at Charlestown!

Media Contact
24th June, 2025

We’ve opened a new pathology collection service in Lake Macquarie, just near Charlestown Square shopping centre and with a welcoming, child-friendly atmosphere. All our staff are specialist paediatric collectors.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy is proud to be pro­vid­ing col­lec­tion ser­vices at the new­ly opened New­cas­tle Health Enter­prise med­ical cen­tre in Charlestown.

The cen­tre is designed to be wel­com­ing for fam­i­lies and chil­dren and all our col­lec­tors are expe­ri­enced in pro­vid­ing pae­di­atric col­lec­tion services.

“We’re all spe­cialised in our field, we’ve been doing it for a long time,” said col­lec­tor, Sherie Donoghoe.

“A lot of peo­ple, the minute they walk into a hos­pi­tal they’re scared. It can be a big, scary space. But this is bright and hap­py, light and spacious.

“I’ve been doing pae­di­atric col­lect­ing for about 10 years, and I’ve been doing gen­er­al col­lec­tions for about 35 years.”

A woman wearing brightly coloured healthcare scrubs taking a blood sample from a woman.
Sherie Donoghoe is an expe­ri­enced col­lec­tor, who spe­cialis­es in pae­di­atric collections.

Sherie says every child com­ing in for a pathol­o­gy col­lec­tion is dif­fer­ent, and she approach­es each with kind­ness and under­stand­ing, work­ing with par­ents and car­ers to ensure the process is as quick and pain­less as possible.

“90 per cent of the time, they are real­ly hap­py by the end of it and are bounc­ing out the door!”

Local Pathol­o­gy Direc­tor for Hunter New Eng­land, Pro­fes­sor Huy Tran was recent­ly joined by the NSW Health Pathol­o­gy team for the offi­cial open­ing of the new med­ical centre.

He says he’s hop­ing local fam­i­lies take advan­tage of the new col­lec­tion service.

“It’s away from the hurly burly of our hos­pi­tal col­lec­tion ser­vice at John Hunter and offers a very home-like envi­ron­ment for chil­dren and adults,” Prof Tran said.

“The advan­tage of this ser­vice is it’s linked up with the hos­pi­tal sys­tem, both our sys­tem and also the clin­i­cal side will have access to all the infor­ma­tion online, so we can improve rapid patient care.”

A man and a woman smiling as they stand in a brightly decorated medical centre waiting area.
Prof Huy Tran and col­lec­tor Sherie Donoghoe.
A room with comfortable chairs, separated by heavy curtains.
The pri­vate wait­ing room for patients who require longer tests.

The cen­tre has a ded­i­cat­ed col­lec­tions room, and a sep­a­rate, pri­vate wait­ing room for col­lec­tions that take longer than a few min­utes such as Glu­cose Tol­er­ance Test­ing in pregnancy.

The New­cas­tle Health Enter­prise med­ical cen­tre is locat­ed at 218 Pacif­ic High­way Charlestown, with an entrance via the Pear­son Street Mall.

We accept all pathol­o­gy refer­ral forms and pro­vide col­lec­tions for adults and chil­dren. There’s no need to book for rou­tine pathol­o­gy col­lec­tions and we bulk bill for all tests cov­ered by Medicare.

We look for­ward to see­ing you and tak­ing care of you and your family!

The exterior of a medical centre.
The entrance to the New­cas­tle Health Enter­prise med­ical cen­tre in Pear­son St Mall, Charlestown.

 

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