Test waiting times rise as target axed

PATIENTS have had to wait more than six weeks for a diagnostic test in Oldham since the Government axed waiting targets, figures have revealed.

While in June no one in the borough was waiting for a test to detect any illnesses for six weeks or longer, by August that figure was 20 in Oldham, Department of Health statistics show.

But Oldham health chiefs say their records now show no one is waiting more than the six weeks and the problem only related to one month.

Shauna Dixon, director of clinical leadership for NHS Oldham, said: “It is true that a few people waited a little longer than six weeks to be seen for audiology tests in August.

“However, it is now back to normal and there are no patients waiting longer than six weeks.”

All 20 patients in Oldham were waiting for audiology tests.

Nationally, the number of people waiting more than six weeks has increased by 86 per cent, from 3,109 to 5,795, over the same period.

The target had meant that hospitals were under pressure to get tests completed early so the next stage of any treatment or surgery could start. The figures refer to patients waiting for 15 types of diagnostic test, including colonoscopy and barium enemas used to diagnose bowel cancer, MRI or CT scans which can detect tumours, or echocardiograms used to track heart disease.

Shadow health secretary John Healey accused the Government of “putting both patients and the NHS at risk”.

He said: “This dramatic rise in waiting times is what you get with a Government quick to abandon patient guarantees, while failing to think through the consequences.”

Katherine Murphy, from the Patients’ Association, said: “These revelations are shocking. Delays in diagnosis shorten people’s lives — we cannot go back to the days where people waited monthss.”

The Department of Health said the increase could be partially explained by people deferring tests during holiday periods. A spokesman added: “Patients are continuing to receive timely access to diagnostic tests.”

He said that as a percentage of the number of patients the NHS treated, the increase in diagnostic figures was low.