Waiting times cut but 18 weeks still a long way off

13 Jul 06
The NHS has cut waiting times for diagnostic tests but it still has much to do if it is to reduce total waits for treatment to 18 weeks.

14 July 2006

The NHS has cut waiting times for diagnostic tests but it still has much to do if it is to reduce total waits for treatment to 18 weeks.

Ridding the health service of bottlenecks for tests, such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans, is crucial to the government's pledge that patients should wait no more than 18 weeks from referral by their GP to treatment by the end of 2008.

The NHS has expanded surgical capacity in public and private sector units but attention is increasingly focused on 'hidden' delays – patients are not put on a surgical waiting list while tests are conducted.

This week health minister Andy Burnham published waiting times for 15 of the most common tests, including MRI and endoscopies. The average wait for these tests was 15 weeks. Three-quarters were performed within 13 weeks – the standard the NHS is hoping to achieve by next April.

The figures, collected in April, show many patients still face long waits. NHS patients were waiting for 799,594 of the 15 high-volume tests, and 203,114 of these procedures were taking longer than 13 weeks, including 96,000 yet to be conducted six months after referral.

Royal College of Radiologists president Professor Janet Husband said: 'Although these data indicate that there are still lengthy waits for some diagnostic tests, it is gratifying to see that some progress has been made.'

But Michael Summers, chair of the Patients' Association, commented: 'In too many parts of the country, patients are waiting too long for diagnosis.'

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