Hi Matt. This must be so stressful for you :(

10 weeks must be feeling like a life time.

Did they give you any indication on how long you would have to wait?

I had a biopsy earlier and was told it would be a maximum of 2 weeks.

PALS  (patient advice and liaison service) will be able to help. You can get the details from 111 or the NHS website. 

Hope you have some good news soon. 

S x 

Hi Matt,

10 weeks is certainly far too long to wait for biopsy results. Hopefully they haven't been lost - if they have, then someone should be getting in touch with you. A possibility is that they have been sent to another hospital's histology department for a second opinion - this happens in a small number of cases where the result is borderline. If they have been sent for a second opinion the consultant will know this & should be able to tell you. 

My suggestion is that you first try your GP & see if they've received the results from the hospital. If they haven't heard anything, ask if they can possibly chase it up for you (some GP's will do this). Failing that, contact PALS as has already been suggested. Even if they haven't received the results from histology yet they should at least keep you informed as to what is causing the delay!

Good luck with chasing them up & I hope they bring good news once you receive them. Please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient)

Matt, I hope you had a good outcome.  I came across this post when my mum was told from the outset that there would be a 10 week wait for biopsy results.  The letter had been amended by hand from 4 to 10.   Moreover, she had to make some considerable effort to get that far as her GP surgery kept asking her to email photos and then saying they couldn't find the email.   They did eventually "find" one of the emails so they were sent to the correct address.  If she needs follow up surgery it will be a delay of about four months from start to finish.  These type of delays seem to he the norm now.  Surely, cancer research breakthroughs are only any help if the patient can actually access it.  

Last year July 2021 went into hospital for a procedure and they took a biopsy.  I didn't hear anything back so I thought no news is good news until April April 2022 were I got a call from a nurse at the hospital asking if I could come in the next day andbring someone with me . I was thinking its maybe a follow up check up from my laproscopy the year before.  At the hospital I was taken into a family room to be told the biopsy they had taken showing cancer was sent to a consultant that no longer works there so my results were off the grid never to be found until the hospital had an audit were questions were asked why I never received treatment . I asked the consultant what my options were he advised a full hysterectomy to take everything away looking at the doctor I felt I could trust hos opinion he said he would be doing my surgery and dealing with me from now on 

The ct scan took about 4 weeks I couldn't get it done sooner but I didn't moan about the waiting time for the scan because I was dreading the results being left for a year we didn't know if it had spread or wat stage I was at .

My pre op came and a different consultant came and spoke to me and told me my ct showed it hadn't spread however the change in doctors with put telling Mr annoyed Mr do much I thought.then least I deserved was to.be told a change in consultants  but I let it go and wanted just to get the operation over with.  I'm currently 2 weeks ppst op after everything taken out of me the chance of having more children and going into menopause at 42 .

My pathology results came back last week and my doctor had done the best job all the cancer was away and it was the coil that had saved Because that contained the cancer yo the one area. 

My whole life has been turned upside down within 7 weeks threw hospital negligence and I was told I didn't fit the criteria of cancer . Any tests ie blood .scans chase it up my story could have ended horribly wrong but I'm here today .