Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Waitemata District Health Board joins Auckland's two other health boards in a new laboratory testing regime on Monday, despite complaints about the service so far.

Waitemata is the final DHB in the Auckland region to move its area's community medical testing to Labtests, replacing Diagnostic Medlab.

Labtests took over the Auckland-wide laboratory testing contract about a month ago, but staff and patients in the Auckland and Counties-Manukau districts have complained the service still isn't up to standard.

Auckland District Health Board chair Pat Snedden says there have been some problems, particularly concerning arrangements with GPs and getting results to people at the right time.

These are being worked through, he says, and it is important to keep the momentum of the changeover going.

A Labtests spokesperson says the company took more 2121 calls in just six hours on Monday when its 21 collection centres opened in the Waitemata district.

She says since the company took over the Auckland-wide contract it has processed more than 400,000 tests.