Ultrasonics: Waiting Lists
(asked on 11th February 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targets his Department has for NHS trusts regarding wait times for an ultrasound scan.
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including for ultrasound.
The National Imaging Data Collection (NIDC) is an annual retrospective data collection for NHS imaging services within England, including the number of reported imaging assets, including ultrasound scanners. The latest collection was published in February 2026 and details that as of March 2025, there were 3,620 ultrasound assets in England, an increase of 152 compared to March 2024. The NIDC can be found at the following link:
The constitutional standard for patients waiting for a diagnostic test, including non-obstetric ultrasound, is that no more than 1% of patients will wait over six weeks from the point of referral. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework formally commits the NHS to achieve this 1% constitutional standard by March 2029. By March 2027, the national performance target is that no more than 14% of patients are waiting over six weeks for a test, with every system required to deliver a minimum 3% performance improvement or ensure performance is at 20% or lower, whichever level of improvement is greater.
Six-week wait performance for non-obstetric ultrasound is published as part of the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity data collection, which can be found at the following link:
As at the end of December 2025, 21.4% of patients, or 132,475 patients, were waiting more than six weeks for a non-obstetric ultrasound.