In this section
Communication of results
Routinely, images and ultrastructural comments are saved locally, copied to cd and sent to the service user via post. Additionally, images can be emailed, upon request, ad hoc (e.g. where EM results needed urgently for MDT).
Turnaround times
Electron microscopy is a highly skilled, specialised service and one which is a lengthy process intrinsically. It is highly sensitive to staffing pressures and unexpected increases in workload. Therefore, it is difficult to guarantee consistency of turnaround times (TATs).
Average routine turnaround times, in accordance with service user requirements, are detailed in individual service level agreements. No turnaround time is guaranteed when samples are received in single batches greater than 5 samples or when multiple batches totalling more than 5 samples are received in the same week from any given external service user.
However, samples that are requested by the Pathologist to be prioritised for valid clinical reasons are always expedited through the system with priority over all routine samples already in process and are examined in the order in which they are received. Digital images should be available within 2 – 6 working days of receipt/notification of priority status dependant on the number of priority samples already in the system at the time.
(Last reviewed January 2023)