Waiting list for diagnostic tests in Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust reached 6,855 in July - up 30% on 2019

Waiting list for diagnostic tests in Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust reached 6,855 in July - up 30% on 2019

•  The waiting list for diagnostic tests - like MRI and CT scans - in the area covered by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust rose between June 2019 and July 2023 by 1,583 to 6,855
•  NHS target: less than 1% of people should be waiting more than 6 weeks for these tests - in July, 32.4% of patients in our part of Berkshire waited 6 weeks or longer
• Wokingham Lib Dems call for an expansion of community diagnostic centres and the legal right to see your GP in seven days

NHS waiting lists in Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust for basic diagnostic tests - including MRI and CT scans - grew by 30% between June 2019 and July 2023, up to 6,855. The research from the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, also shows that over 32.2% of people waited more than 6 weeks for one of these tests in July (the NHS target is less than 1%).

The 15 types of tests that make up the list provided by the Commons Library include Colonoscopies, CT scans, MRIs, Echocardiography, and DEXA scans. For colonoscopies, the waiting list in our area spiked from 2019 to 2023 by 158% up to 525 in July 2023. For CT scans, it shot up by 359 to 1,473 in July.

The proportion of people waiting over six weeks for a diagnostic test here is well above the NHS target of less than 1%. In July, it sat at 32.4%, over 32 TIMES higher than the target. The percentage of people waiting more than six weeks has also spiked since 2019, from 4.4% in June 2019, to 32.4% in July, a more than 6 FOLD increase.

Wokingham Liberal Democrats are calling for an expansion of community diagnostic centres to bring services closer to where people live and ensure they can be seen far quicker.

The party is also calling for the right for everyone to see their GP in seven days by increasing the number of appointments and the number of GPs by 8,000. The Lib Dems have also called for investment in new hospital equipment to ensure that patients get the first-class treatment that they deserve.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Wokingham, Clive Jones, said:

“What this Conservative government has done to the NHS is nothing short of a national scandal. Thousands of patients in our area are forced to wait in pain and discomfort, anxiously wondering when they will get a diagnosis, let alone treatment.

“Ministers are missing in action in this NHS crisis, and it’s patients who are suffering. We need urgent action to get on top of this mess, end these appalling delays and ensure our community gets the local health services that we deserve.”

Clive Jones, Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidate for Wokingham