Diagnostic delays put patients ‘at risk’

Patients are being put at risk because doctors have to wait too long for the results of x-rays and other important scans, a new report has warned.

The study by the Healthcare Commission found that while waiting times in hospital x-ray departments had fallen by up to 33 per cent, two out of three clinicians reported that were still not receiving results when they needed to.

According to the report, An Improving Picture? Imaging Services in Acute and Specialist Trusts, investment in new equipment and higher productivity levels helped 46 out of 153 NHS trusts meet a 13-week government target for diagnostic tests to be carried out by the end of 2006.

But the study, which analysed data from a total of 196 imaging departments in England for 2005/06, found that the time subsequently taken to report the results of diagnostic tests to clinicians had not improved since 2001; hampering efforts to ensure that patients are referred for treatment within an overall target of 18 weeks by 2009.

“Patients can experience unnecessary worry when there are long delays waiting for a diagnosis to be confirmed,” said the commission’s chief executive, Anna Walker.

“However, the fact that the results from ten per cent of imaging examinations are never formally reported means that injuries and serious conditions can go undetected, and this potentially puts patients at risk,” she added.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that the NHS was working hard to tackle turnaround times for reporting results.

Some 33 million patient examinations, including x-rays, CT scans, MRI scans and ultrasound scans, are carried out by imaging departments in England each year.