‘Shocking shortage’ of NHS staff as record numbers of patients await tests

Waiting lists for diagnostic tests, including cancer scans, are at an all-time high in NHS England, with doctors warning of a ‘staggering shortage’ of clinical radiologists.

Figures published on Thursday showed the diagnostic waiting list stood at 1,658,221 – twice as many as 10 years ago. Nearly 500,000 patients are waiting for CT scans and MRIs.

The figures show the scale of the task facing the new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, who has ordered a review of the NHS. Labour pledged in its manifesto to double the number of scanners, but doctors warn that more staff are urgently needed to operate them and read the resulting scans.

“The NHS is broken,” a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in response to the figures. “Waiting lists are too long and patients have not had access to the care they desperately need.

“The longer patients wait for tests and scans, the worse the outcomes will be. We need to diagnose patients much earlier.”

The total number of patients waiting six weeks or longer for referral for one of the 15 key diagnostic tests at the end of May 2024 was 365,800. About 22% of patients are waiting six weeks or longer for tests, compared with the NHS target of less than 1%.

Katharine Halliday, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, said: “The UK is facing a serious shortage of staff in diagnostics and cancer care, with a staggering 30% shortage of clinical radiologists and a 15% shortage of clinical oncologists.

“Staff retention issues and low staff morale exacerbate these shortages, which in turn leads to longer waits for diagnosis, increased patient anxiety, and delayed cancer treatments. Every month of delay in starting treatment can increase the risk of death by 10%.”

Halliday welcomed Labour’s pledge to double the number of places in medical schools and said doctors were keen to work with the government to improve access to diagnostics.

Streeting said last week he was “truly appalled” by the failings of the NHS he has heard about since taking office. He has ordered an independent review into the NHS’s performance, led by world-renowned surgeon Prof Ara Darzi, which will form the basis of a 10-year plan to transform the service.

The waiting list for hospital treatments now stands at 7.6 million.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said waiting times for diagnostic services were “alarming and unacceptable”. A survey published by the association last week found that less than half of patients (45%) felt they had been kept informed about what was happening with their care.

Power said: “Patients deserve much better. We need to solve the problems that patients experience, rather than the problems that the system experiences.”

Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the government must deliver on its pledge to double the number of CT and MRI scanners “as quickly as possible” to “really close the backlog in care”.

He said: “Trust leaders and their teams are doing everything they can to ensure patients get their checks, scans and operations as quickly as possible. Their efforts have been hampered by long-term staff shortages and years of underinvestment.”

An analysis by the think tank King’s Fund has found that the UK has fewer diagnostic equipment than comparable countries. It was ranked 25th out of 28 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in 2020 for the number of CT, MRI and PET scanners per million people.

According to NHS England, the number of diagnostic tests is increasing and the latest figures from late May show a fall in the number of people having to wait six weeks or more compared to May 2023.

An NHS spokesman said: “The latest figures show that NHS staff are carrying out more tests and checks than ever before and that waiting times of more than six weeks have reduced by more than 10% compared to last year. But it is clear that much more needs to be done to ensure that all patients have access to the tests they need as quickly as possible.”