A national shortage of pathologists, compounded by the increasing complexity of the specialty, is driving delays in medical test results, warns the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

Tests requested by hospital specialists or GPs that are usually turned around in “2-3 days or maybe a week” are now taking up to 2-3 weeks, college CEO Dr Debra Graves says.

“They obviously try to triage things as much as they possibly can … but pathologists are getting increasingly stressed because of the workforce shortages,” she told AusDoc.

She added that, while all nine pathology specialties were impacted by shortages, anatomical pathology — covering skin biopsies, colonoscopy and pap smears — was likely to be the worst affected because of its “intensity and the one-on-one nature”.