by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | October 27, 2011
Hodge said they found "unacceptable" variations in access to equipment, with average CT scan rates at different facilities varying from 7,800 to 22,000 per year. Opening hours also ranged from 40 to 100 hours per week.
Plus, stroke victims aren't receiving timely head scans, and 13 percent of cancer patients who could benefit from radiation therapy don't get it, according to a March National Audit Office survey cited by Hodge in the report.
"A modern NHS should not allow 50 percent of people who have a stroke to wait more than 24 hours for a scan," Hodge said.
Still, very long waits, of six weeks or more, have been mostly eliminated, according to the National Audit Office. As of July 2011, median wait times were 1.4 weeks for CT scans and 1.8 weeks for MRI scans, according to evidence supplied by the NHS.
Fixing the system
Hodge and colleagues recommended a half dozen fixes, including getting trusts to share purchasing plans with NHS bosses to better collaborate on buys, and as well as putting more pressure on trusts to purchase through so-called framework agreements.
The investigators also hope a new national data set on MRI and CT use, expected in April, will allow the NHS to benchmark providers' performances and make them work better. A similar data set, for radiotherapy, was launched in 2009.
"From 2012-13 onwards, the NHS Commissioning Board should ensure that this data set enables local clinical commissioning groups to hold trusts to account for their performance, and to drive improvements in efficiency," the report said.
Health department's response
In response to the committee's report, health minister Simon Burns said the government was doing "everything it can to root out waste and inefficiency," and that it would consider the recommendations.
"Already the NHS has saved up to 15 per cent on scanners by working with NHS Supply Chain to coordinate large orders over time with other trusts," Burns said in a statement. "This is the NHS working smarter, but full savings will not be seen until all trusts make use of this system."
He also said the NHS was planning on expanding radiotherapy capacity by 150 million pounds.
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