AMA says patients waiting six weeks for pathology results delaying their treatment

A Tasmanian woman has waited nearly six weeks for the results of a biopsy. The AMA says that is ‘unacceptable’. Read why.

If you love laboratory work and have keen eye for details and accuracy, TAFE’S Certificate III in Pathology will fascinate you.The course is designed as an entry level qualification required to work in the pathology industry.

Public pathology services in Tasmania are struggling to meet demand with patients waiting weeks for urgent biopsy results.

One patient told the Sunday Tasmanian she had been waiting 39 days for results of a colonoscopy in which four polyps were removed.

The woman, who has had bowel cancer, was referred for a colonoscopy at the Royal Hobart Hospital after a CT scan showed a thickening in the bowel.

“When the GP rang to get the results she was told that due to a lack of staff they had a backlog of over 800 biopsies and mine hadn’t been looked at yet,” she said.

The woman said she hoped to travel next month but was unable to get travel insurance because she did not have the biopsy result.

The Health Department acknowledged the anxiety for people awaiting results and said recruitment was “ongoing to secure additional pathologists”.

AMA president Dr Michael Lumsden- Steel. Picture: Chris Kidd

But the Australian Medical Association says it is “unacceptable” that people have to wait further delaying their treatment.

AMA president Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel said patients were waiting for five to six weeks for pathology results which would normally be done in a week.

“We have a problem. Unfortunately pathology services around the state are under increasing pressure,” he said.

“Some elements of pathology are being supported and sent interstate, because we don’t have capacity to keep up to some investigations in Tasmania.

“We are now having to triage pathology tests in Hobart in the public health system because we are not able to process pathology samples in what we consider to be standard times.”

Dr Lumsden-Steel said doctors often took tissue samples they believed were normal but after testing it showed cancer.

“The real dilemma is that if you have a delay in getting that pathology diagnosis, that really then takes away the opportunity to rapidly bring that patient back and do some sort of examination to remove the cancer,” he said.

Colonoscopy appointment Picture: istock

Dr Lumsden-Steel said he was aware that at the RHH a business case to increase staff had been approved but “there was no funding allocated to fill those positions”.

“I’m concerned that the people that are involved in this process are pulling their hair out because they now have to triage and basically prioritise those investigations.

“It’s unacceptable that due to the inadequate resources, increasingly, departments in the health system have to triage. Triage is what you start doing when you don’t have the capacity to meet the demands and that’s where we’re at.

“We’re seeing it in not only pathology, we’re seeing in just about every area because we don’t have resources to treat patients in time.”

Pathologists who finish their training in Tasmania, he said, have left the state and there were not enough pathologists to supervise them.

A Health Department spokeswoman said Pathology Services at Hospitals South did testing for public and private hospitals, including specialised testing only done in the South.

“There has been sustained increase in demand for these testing services, and recruitment is ongoing to secure additional pathologists required to meet the level of demand, noting there are also national workforce shortages in this speciality,” she said.

“The service is also proactively working to address reporting delays with measures designed to streamline its processes, improve efficiency, and enhance triage and prioritisation strategies.

“We understand the anxiety patients and their loved ones can feel as they await information and results. We empathise with anyone experiencing delays in receiving their diagnosis.”

Originally published as AMA says patients waiting six weeks for pathology results delaying their treatment