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Urgent advisory: Clinicians using BCPS histopathology/cytopathology services

June 10, 2021

There has been an unprecedented high volume of histopathology/cytology case throughput during the last month. Both the complexity and numbers of histopathology/cytology requests being made are relatively high and will likely remain so for a period of time.

Pathology colleagues shall continue to endeavour to triage and report all cases (urgent and routine) in as timely a manner as is possible. A number of additional strategies are also now in place to try to mitigate the impact of this surge in workload and thereby reduce delays in processing/reporting of specimens.

With the above overall context in mind, we would like to ask clinical colleagues to assist us – as follows – with our efforts in maintaining a streamlined and effective reporting service:

Please continue to help our consultant team to report cases as efficiently as possible. We are always available through direct contact for clinically urgent/relevant discussions; however, simple chasing of both urgent and routine results should be directed via the below channels:

  • Main lab telephone number: ext. 5371.
  • General email enquiry account: swb-tr.swbh-gm-histopathology@nhs.net  (this is checked by our administrative team every 2-3 hours and all enquiries are responded to directly or escalated to the lab/consultants if necessary)

Please state all relevant clinical details on printed/handwritten request forms and double check label/form accuracy before despatching specimens to the department – both to assist us with triaging cases and also to enable timely reporting of cases without the need to chase up additional clinical information or clarify details ourselves.

The SWB histopathology/cytopathology service is now part of an amalgamated network across multiple Trust sites in the Black Country region, with central management services being based at the New Cross Hospital site. We are actively and proactively working with colleagues elsewhere within the network on a daily basis to address and mitigate any ongoing clinical concerns regarding turnaround times.

Be further assured local heads of departments and wider consultant team will escalate any of your concerns to central management on your behalf if deemed necessary. However, if it is felt that more urgent or direct patient safety related issues warrant discussion, our the central team is available for direct contact via email:

Note: Remember the importance of requesting histology/cytology through Unity and then printing out a form to accompany the specimen