TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 pandemic: unexpected problems in pathological reporting JF - Journal of Clinical Pathology JO - J Clin Pathol DO - 10.1136/jclinpath-2021-207697 SP - jclinpath-2021-207697 AU - W Glenn McCluggage Y1 - 2021/06/29 UR - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/early/2021/06/29/jclinpath-2021-207697.abstract N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic saw a dramatic reduction in patient referrals for investigation and management of cancers and other conditions in the UK and elsewhere. One of the most immediate effects was a ‘downturn’ in the number of specimens submitted to pathology laboratories. Following this, many clinical teams, in conjunction with their managerial colleagues, put in place plans to see and manage patients and to undertake surgical procedures in various hospitals where they would not normally do this, including independent non-National Health Service (NHS) institutions. In most, but not all, cases this involved the clinicians travelling to undertake the work in these institutions. While this practice undoubtedly alleviated some of the pressures and allowed other NHS institutions to be devoted to dealing with the pandemic, there have been unexpected … ER -