Recent statistics from the National Health Service (NHS) show that almost a quarter of patients wait more than six weeks for key diagnostic tests such as MRI and CT scans, the BBC reported on Aug. 27.
The statistics are from data of 87,482 people in Scotland between March and June who were waiting for tests. Of these patients, 18,644 had been waiting longer than six weeks.
This current rate of patients waiting less than six weeks for a diagnostic test—78.7 percent—is down from 80.6 percent in March, 82.9 percent a year ago and 92.2 percent two years ago, according to the article.
“This represents an increase of 300 percent on the 4,750 patients who had to wait longer than six weeks in June 2016,” according to the article.
Read BBC’s entire article below.
A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.