they test for whatever the doctor asks for... nothing is standard

there are some tests that are common (ie full blood count, urea, creatanine, electrolytes) and are asked for 90% of the time... but even they wont get done unless the doc asks for them.

also any acredited lab will process every sample SAME DAY for 95% of the tests... most have to do it within a few hours of the sample arriving (as some of the results can be wrong if the same is more thana fe hours old) the reason why it seems to take forever is that it takes ages for GPs to bother to get the results, most just wait for em to turn up in the post, then wait a few days before openieng em n looking at them, then a few more days for them to bother to ring you.