ABOUT 500 Wrexham Maelor patients are facing agonising delays for vital test results.
The eight to 10 week backlog is affecting the results of routine tissue samples at the hospital.
The situation came to light after a Wrexham man contacted the Leader to say he had not yet received the results of a colonoscopy test performed on July 30 to establish whether he is suffering from colon cancer.
The man, who does not wish to be identified but is 68 years old, said: “There is a history of colon cancer in my family, with both my father and my brother dying from it.
“I am currently being treated for another form of cancer, so I think my doctor believed that testing me for colon cancer was pretty important.
“But since I had the test done at the Maelor two and a half months ago I haven’t had any word back on the results.
“I enquired at the hospital and was told by my surgeon’s secretary they were about 12 weeks behind in getting results from the lab.”
Andrew Scotson, spokesman for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: “Routine testing of samples is currently taking around eight to 10 weeks, although staff are working additional sessions to reduce this backlog, which totals around 500 samples, and it is expected that the backlog will have been cleared by the end of November.
“Our intention is to have the results ready by the time of the patient's follow up appointment, which would typically be six to eight weeks after the procedure where the sample was taken.
“These are samples where either diagnosis has already been made on the basis of the endoscopy results, symptoms and other tests, and treatment has started, or where the sample has actually been taken during a procedure, such as the removal of a mole, so treatment has already taken place.
“Wherever the clinician considers that the test results would have significance for the care of a patient, testing starts immediately.”
On the specific case of the man who contacted the Leader, he said: “Having spoken further with our patholoy manager it sounds like the patient in question has had biopsy samples taken as part of an endoscopy examination.
“The primary purpose of such a procedure is to allow the consultant to observe inside a patient's bowel to study its condition and look for indications of disease, inflammation or other problems to enable a diagnosis to be made.
“During the examination the tissue samples may be taken to confirm any diagnosis that has been made and for screening purposes.
“Based on the results of the visual examination and any symptoms that the patient is reporting the doctor will assess the clincial priority of the samples.
“Where there are any grounds for concern, or where they are needed to help with diagnosis, testing of the samples will start straight away. Where a diagnosis can be made on the basis of visual examination, symptoms and other results, the samples will still be checked but they do not have to be treated urgent.”