Tomography
(asked on 10th January 2017) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) what is the average NHS patient waiting time for the results of diagnostic scans, (2) how much of this waiting time is due to NHS technician staff shortages, and (3) how much delays in early diagnosis as a result of waiting times are estimated to cost the NHS.
Average median waiting times from general practitioner (GP) referral to the patient receiving the test are published for diagnostic imaging scans every month by NHS England, most recently for November 2016, and are shown in the following table. Waiting times between the tests being performed and the results being conveyed to the patient are not published centrally.
Average median waiting times from GP referral to test for diagnostic imaging scans, November 2016
Imaging scan | Waiting time in weeks |
Magnetic resonance imaging | 2.0 |
Computerised tomography | 1.6 |
Non obstetric ultrasound | 1.9 |
Barium Enema | 1.5 |
Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry | 1.8 |
Source: Diagnostic waiting times, NHS England
No assessment has been made of how much of the waiting time is attributable to National Health Service technician staff shortages, or of how much delays in early diagnosis are estimated to cost the NHS.