The NHS's spending on private firms for radiology services reached a record £216 million last year, reflecting a 30% shortage of radiologists. This increased reliance on outsourcing has doubled over five years as the demand for diagnostic tests rises. The Royal College of Radiologists warns that this trend may weaken NHS radiology services further, with a potential cycle of deterioration. Criticism focuses on the unsustainable approach of the NHS to manage excess demand without training enough specialists, resulting in long patient wait times for crucial scan results.
The current sticking plaster approach to managing excess demand in radiology is unsustainable and certainly isn't working for patients, who face agonising waits for answers about their health.
It is a false economy to be spending over 200m of NHS funds outsourcing radiology work to private companies, and evidence of our failure to train and retain the amount of NHS radiologists we need.
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