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We’ve been transforming Anatomical Pathology services at our Coffs Harbour laboratory, attracting more pathologists and support staff, and achieving better outcomes for patients.
A passion for working in regional areas has been the driving force behind the career of Dr Richard Tustin, Senior Pathologist and Clinical Director for Anatomical Pathology at our Coffs Harbour laboratory.
Richard has worked hard to create an AP lab that now serves the entire Mid North coast region, even taking on work from other parts of the state when needed.
“I’m from South Africa originally and have worked in regional areas all over the world,” he explains.
“I have found that patients in regional areas don’t always have access to the same anatomical pathology services as those in metropolitan areas. My philosophy and passion is for bridging this gap.
“We have largely succeeded in doing so in Coffs Harbour and surrounds, in an area extending from Port Macquarie to Grafton,” Richard said.
“Coffs Harbour Base Hospital provides full surgical and oncological services to the community. In order to support these services, it was essential we develop our AP service to fulfill the demands for rapid diagnosis as well as prognostic indicators for various cancers.”
When he arrived in Coffs Harbour 7 years ago, Richard realised the laboratory needed upgrading if it was to attract more pathologists and laboratory staff.
Since then, NSW Health Pathology has invested in building a dedicated Anatomical Pathology laboratory, histopathology laboratory, a suite of pathologists’ offices for reporting as well as installing state-of-the-art equipment.
“We now have 6 full-time pathologists working in the area, up from only 1 full-time pathologist in 2017,” Richard said.
“We have an automated immunohistochemistry stainer on site, with the aim to purchase a second one shortly. This enables us to provide rapid turnaround times for biopsies and other urgent specimens.
“As a result of this transformation in services the workload has expanded considerably from 6000 patient episodes back in 2017 when I commenced working here to over 18,000 cases in 2023.”
Richard says his laboratory team has developed excellent working relationships with colleagues in the clinical disciplines.
“We routinely provide diagnoses within 24 hours for breast cancer patients as well as patients with metastatic disease. We report all the breast screen biopsies for the mid and far north coast too.
“We also provide a pathology service to the private sector – the workload of which has grown considerably over the past 7 years.
“The psychological impact on patients waiting for a diagnosis is extremely stressful and the sooner they get a definitive management plan, the better. The benefits of early treatment speak for themselves too.
“In line with my thinking of attracting pathologists to work in regional areas we have established 2 registrar positions in our laboratory, both of which are filled. I find it extremely rewarding working in regional areas.”
Senior Hospital Scientist, Zoe Schmidt at embedding station.
“I knew I wanted to do something related to cancer.”
Managing the laboratory alongside Richard is Coffs Harbour local, Zoe Schmidt, a 27-year-old Senior Hospital Scientist who went off to university with dreams of helping people with cancer.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do (when I began studying), but I knew that I wanted to do something related to cancer,” Zoe said.
“Cancer affects a lot of families, but it affected my family quite a bit, so it was an area I wanted to make a difference in.”
After working in laboratories in Wollongong and Sydney, Zoe says she’s very happy to be back in her hometown.
“I find the work way more rewarding in a small lab because you get exposure to things that you don’t get in a big lab. There’s so much more variety to our work in Coffs Harbour,” she said.
“Now we are getting bigger, a lot of our staff are skilled in a lot of areas so they can move around, and that’s what makes it rewarding.
“It was daunting initially taking on the lab manager’s role, but I have great mentors with Richard and Trevor Baillie (the former AP lab manager) – it’s great to always be learning and watching what they do.
“We work very closely with the pathologists here in regional, so the relationship the staff get to have with the pathologist is really enriching, including getting to learn how and why we do things the way we do.”
Zoe says patients get access to fast, accurate results.
“Recently we were contacted by a woman who wanted to say thank you,” Zoe said.
“She’d had surgery on a Monday and by Tuesday afternoon got a phone call from her surgeon giving her the results of cancer tests, which were all-clear.
“It was great that she wanted to thank us for the fast turnaround of results, but I told her we just did what we always do!”
Richard says he’s proud of what’s been achieved at the Coffs Harbour laboratory and his team remains focused on getting the best possible outcomes for regional patients.
