University Hospital of La Paz has over 11,000 unanalysed biopsies: delays and collapse in tumor diagnostic tests

He University Hospital of La Paz, in the north of Madrid, is experiencing a new situation of public health collapse and agglutination in the Community of Madrid. Several members of the pathology department reported that more than 11,000 unanalyzed biopsies had accumulated and were awaiting cataloging for their results.

Images provided Infobae Spain show huge amount of accumulated biopsies in trays and awaiting analysis. On all countertops of the departments, heaps and piles: “During August 10, biopsy specimens from July 7 were cut off,” say the employees of the hospital department. A month late with the diagnosis of key tests.

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Pathology is a key element for the prognosis of diseases, especially tumors“as well as to obtain predictive data on responses to various therapeutic options for treating diseases,” according to the Department of La Paz’s own website.

“Don’t be fooled by counting the milongas…Today we have 11,600 pending biopsy blocks– say employees of the department, realizing the seriousness of the situation. The Hospital de La Paz is constantly at the center of delays and crowds. The center’s emergencies collapsed repeatedly despite repeated complaints from its closets.

Infobae Spain asked the University Hospital of La Paz to explain these delays, which justified the delays by saying that “the lack of experience of these contracted technicians to be able to handle the samples themselves and the mandatory training they were provided by the hospital” was the key to understanding these delays.

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The toilets of the department themselves, knowing about the situation, asked several times through their superiors hiring more staff get out of this lockdown, which causes delays in diagnosis by more than a month. However, as they note, these contracts never took place.

From the hospital, they wanted to call for calm and ensure that “all intraoperative biopsies that are urgent are processed preferentially” and that “not all biopsies are associated with cancer or neoplastic diseases.”

“We are talking about something as serious as having a tumor that can lead to a cure or a poor prognosis, because once the results are in, there is no therapeutic intervention,” says a woman who has not yet received her biopsy result and who wanted to denounce the situation. .

The Community of Madrid is one of the regions with the fewest summer vacation replacements. In fact, it was the region that closed the most beds during these months. In total, more than 8,000 emergency hospital beds were closed throughout Spain during this summer season, a figure already equal to the closure that occurred before the coronavirus pandemic.

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