Collecting a 24 hour urine sample (plain bottle)

The following instructions will guide you through the steps of how to collect a 24 hour urine (wee) sample into a plain sample bottle.

Make sure to write your child’s name and date of birth on the bottle before you start.

1. On the morning that the collection starts, your child should get out of bed at the usual time and pass urine (do a wee) into the toilet as normal. Do not collect this urine into the sample bottle. So that the 24 hour collection period starts with an empty bladder this first wee of the day should be flushed down the toilet as normal.
2. Now write the date and time onto the collection bottle.
3. Collect all urine passed over the next 24 hours into the sample bottle. Your child may find it easier to pass urine into a smaller container each time they go to the toilet and then add this to the 24 hour collection sample bottle. Please make sure this is a clean container.
4. Finish by emptying the bladder the following morning (at the end of the 24 hours) and collecting this wee into the sample bottle. For example, the collection period might start at 8am one morning, and finish the next morning at 8am.
5. You have now completed the 24 hour urine collection.
6. Now write the date and time the sample collection ended on the bottle.
7. Please make sure that the bottle has the start and finish dates and times written on it.
8. Keep the bottle in a cool place, but not in the fridge.
9. Return the bottle to the Clinical Chemistry Department as soon as possible and within 24 to 48 hours of finishing the collection, along with the request form given to you by the doctor.

The department is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.