In this section
Many of our service users have systems in place to track specimens. If specimen acceptance criteria are applied at the time of tracked receipt, the specimen can be returned to the sender quickly should any discrepancy be identified.
Appropriate action in the event of a specimen acceptance failure involving fresh tissue (e.g. frozen section, gel sample) or an Urgent / HSC 205 sample is decided at the discretion of the reporting pathologist. The decision to accept and process pending confirmation may be taken based on a dynamic risk assessment to determine potential harm to the patient.
If a specimen has been requested using HIVE, the sender can use HIVE to check whether the specimen has been received.
(Last reviewed February 2025)