Cellular pathology

Cellular pathology is the microscopic analysis of patient tissue samples to look for the presence/absence of disease. We provide services for routine histopathology, cytopathology and frozen sections.

Results

You will obtain your result from a hospital clinician or GP who is responsible for your procedure, we ask patients kindly not to contact cellular pathology for results.

Colleagues within cellular pathology are dedicated to ensuring that patients receive results not only in a timely manner, but also that you receive a diagnosis with covers all aspects of quality. 

Samples are prioritised according to clinical urgency and the two-week wait pathway. We aim to have 90% or urgent cases reported between 7 to 14 days. The time it takes to report routine samples can vary dependent on their complexity. As a guide, Between October 2024 and March 2025, the laboratory achieved the following average turnaround time:

• The majority of urgent biopsies were reported within 5 days of receipt.
• The majority of cancer resection cases were reported within 10 days of receipt.
• The majority of non-urgent samples were reported within 37 days of receipt, however some samples can take up to 90 days to report.

For the most up to date turnaround times please speak to the clinician performing your procedure.

General practice staff and NHS staff service users who require more information and can’t access the pathology handbook via an NHS computer can request the Cellular Pathology handbook by emailing Histology@wsh.nhs.uk