Hi,im sure i’ve read on here that some of u have had your pathology reports after surgery.I’ve been trying to get hold of mine but apparantely it’s not usual practice they said. The not very helpful & quite offhand secretary is going to ask the consultant but just wondered if anyone else had to literally beg to get it or am i out of order for asking for it? thanks x
hvj, write a simple letter to your consultant asking for a copy of all pathology reports and copies of all letters that are sent to your GP. They would need to have a VERY good excuse to refuse!
Dead simple to do, but a pain in the bum that we have to bother writing rather than just asking for it. It’s no hassle for them to log into the system and print it out so you’re not putting them out.
I’ve heard that some GP surgeries make a charge for giving you copies. I read mines when I was in hospital isolation for a week at the end of treatment - a junior medic left them on the trolley in my room whilst he went out to attend to another patient and me being nosy I had a look. There was nothing there I didn’t already know, but it was interesting to see what the Consultant Surgeon had written about me. He said it was his opinion I suffered from very low stress levels. He also wrote a letter to my GP surgery telling them to contact me to make sure I was OK as I was very shocked when he told me I had BC (he’d told me 3 weeks previously that all my test results had come back clear so being diagnosed after having a fibroid removed was totally unexpected).
I thought my GP contacted me through concern, seems that might not have been the case after all.
Hi
Sorry to hear youve had problems getting info about our own bodies and treatment, but I had exactly the same issues. Mostly my surgeon dismissed my requests as ‘she had explained everything’ but when I later got a copy via my BCN, I found I had invasive cancer, which I DIDNT know, so def fight for what is your right.
There was some quite technical info in the report too but there is a great wee booklet via BCC which helps to explain the terminology, as well as the helpline nurses.
Good luck
Cathie x
Chocciemuffin, if i don’t get them within a week i’ll write a letter.The secretary was verging on snottiness as if to say ‘why on earth would i want them’. I just like to know everything, i guess im just nosey,lol.
Cherub, i did exactly the same as u! When i went in for my 2nd op they shut the curtains for me to get changed & i had a good look at all the letters & first path report as it was lying on the table at my bed, it was too tempting,lol. I even jotted some of the stuff down but when i got home it was too jumbled to read & i got confused,haha. It’s the 2nd path report i really want to see.
Actually i looked at the chart the nurse was filling in with BP etc after she’d gone & it was a good job i did a it had someone elses name on it!!
Cathie, im glad u agree as well, i was startng to feel like a real nuisance, i’ve asked 3 times for copies of my letters which the consultant had agreed to but still haven’t got. But maybe it’s time for me to get snotty as well 
Hi all
It does seem v different with each hosp/trust. My experience was in first few weeks I was nervous of reading too much, then got back to usual self and wanted copies of my path reports. I asked one onc nurse at usual pre-chemo appt, she said that would be fine but I heard nothing further. Then asked her colleague at next appt 3 weeks later, he pressed a couple of buttons on computer and handed them over in 20 seconds, no questions.
I will be going to another hosp (Addenbrookes in Cambridge) for rads and have just received letter from them encouraging me to get copies of reports, correspondence with GP etc - sounds almost as if you choose to opt out, rather than in.
Sorry if that adds to the confusion but my understanding is that you are definitely entitled to them.
I had problems getting my path report but only because it was not on the system. Once it was the printed it out and found a doctor to go through it with me.
I do not think the path report is sent to the GP. I have received copies of all letters and it has always just been a summery.
after reading advice on here i asked the oncologist for a copy of my path report and he said they don’t give it ! i am going to ask my g.p. if he received it-feel a bit put off to ask the onc again
perhaps you should ring your PALS department. It cannot be right that you are not allowed to have a copy
thanks for all your advice ladies. Ethydsyl, the GP definately doesn’t get sent a copy of the path report, they will only get a letter from the consultant. The hosp would probably send it to the GP if the GP asked for it so u could always try asking the GP to do that if u don’t get anywhere but as the others say we have a right to look at our medical records.
I asked my surgeon when he was discussing my op results with me, and he just said, “Oh, I’ve got two copies here - have this one”. It never occurred to me that they might be obstructive.
Una12, I had my rads at Addenbrookes - lovely staff there and some very handy shops as well! Make sure you take your white ticket from the car park machine to the main reception desk and get it swapped for a yellow weekly pass then it’ll only cost you £3 for the week. You just put it in the payment machine the first time you leave and pay, then for the rest of the week you walk past the queue with your golden ticket in your hand!
I was there in June and as we drove through Grantchester every day to get there it seemed rude not to stop a few times and have scones with clotted cream and jam at The Orchard… Rupert Brooke would have been proud, although I didn’t actually have honey.
Jane xxx
thank-you ladies-my gp is very good-think i will ask if they could get a copy-feel a bit of a wuss-don’t like to push the issue-i am a very confident capable person-but bc has turned me into a jellyfish !!!
Hi, my BCN just printed mine out when I asked for it, no problems. Sorry it seems harder in other places - but its not nosy or inquisitive to want info about your own body and your own illness. I know not everyone wants it, but many of us reach a stage where we want all the info they have. Seems reasonable to me - why the resistance?
good luck xxx
Ethyl, you don’t have to be stroppy in your letter, just a very brief:
Dear [consultant]
Please let me have copies of all the pathology reports and copies of any letters sent to my GP.
I look forward to receiving these documents very soon.
Yours sincerely
Ethyl.
That’s ALL you need to write, no need for justification, explanation or apology. They then HAVE to respond. You aren’t being unreasonable and don’t need to involve your GP. Go on, I dare you, get the paper, pen, envelope and stamp together and do it!
oh choccie-i’m a scaredy pants !!!but i will do it !! manyana lol x thanx for the draft-i will use it-x
Good girl!
well i got a call back from my consultants secretary today, she said i could have a copy of the letters sent to Gp but it wasn’t hospital policy to give the patient the path report. To get this she said i would have to apply to view my medical records to see it. This seems a bit unnecessary as i only want one report. I might just do as chocciemuffin says & try writing a letter first.
hjv, you have a RIGHT to see that report! Perhaps a phone call to PALS for your hospital? But most definitely put your request in writing.
Hi hjv,
I also asked my consultant for a copy of my path report today and she said i couldnt have it as it was dictated but I could have a copy of the letter sent to gp which would be in ‘understandable’ layman terms. Thought that was a bit patronising as I am an Allied Health worker but didnt push it as she had said clear margins and nodes, will see what the letter says when it arrives. Just relieved really and was glad to get out of there before they changed their minds!
jude x
Choccie, i did think of ringing PALS so i might still do that too.
Jude,that was such a patronising thing to say, i work in a GP practice & the letters the GP gets are quite basic, they don’t give anywhere near the amount of info u would get from a path report. I’m still going to work on getting mine but if i still don’t get anywhere i’ll ask my GP to request it instead, they can’t say no then,lol.