Introduction:
Hospital laboratories allow doctors to make the right decisions quickly, which affect the success of medical therapy because the physician is provided with reliable results concerning the health of the patient. The standards and requirements for diagnostic laboratories are specified by laws and regulations of the Minister of Health. If a diagnostic laboratory is to operate properly, it must comply with the legal requirements to meet certain standards in terms of organization, equipment, ensuring high-quality laboratory services and employing an educated workforce. Proper laboratory work results in obtaining reliable results.

Materials and methods:
The aim of this study was to present the functioning of hospital laboratories in selected hospitals. The study was designed as a survey and carried out in hospitals in the province of Silesia among the hospital laboratory personnel. The study used a specially prepared original psychometric questionnaire containing 51 questions in accordance with the requirements of psychometrics.

Results:
The evaluated laboratories do not have specialistic labs except the ones carrying out cytological and bacteriological tests. Therefore, hospital laboratories use the services of other laboratories performing specialized testing. Most laboratories do not have accreditation, and orders for the tests and their results are in two forms: paper and electronic ones. Fast diagnostics is well developed in the evaluated laboratories, and the time necessary to obtain the results in urgent cases is less than 1 hour.

Conclusions:
Hospital laboratories meet the requirements of laws and established standards, comply with the law concerning laboratory diagnostic procedures, apply processes for continuous improvement of service quality.