Health Secretary: Scan Result Targets Should Be Considered
The NHS could face targets for returning medical scans following an appalling'' case where a man died of cancer after waiting more than a year for his results, the Health Secretary has said.
Scans for suspected serious illnesses such as cancer should be carried out within six weeks under NHS targets - but there is no deadline for the test results to be returned.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said she expects results to be returned in a timely fashion'' but added she is willing to consider targets after a man died of cancer after waiting over a year for his scan results.
James Docherty, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, had a scan in 2012 that revealed he had terminal cancer but he was not told until 2013 after his family informed his GP he was still awaiting test results, and he died in August 2014, it's been reported.
Some 6,448 people had waited longer than the six-week target for a scan in June 2014, a four-fold rise in two years.
Ms Robison said: The case of Mr Docherty was appalling, should never have happened and NHS Lanarkshire quite rightly apologised.
The issue here was, of course, the delay in getting the test results back.
Boards have assured us, and we have rigorously explored to make sure that this is correct, that the most urgent cases for diagnostic tests such as cancer are treated as a priority and are within the six-week target.
The vast majority are within two or three weeks. Now, there is no target for getting those test results back.
We expect boards to get those test results back in a timely fashion, as soon is possible. Now, we're in the middle of looking at targets as part of the national conversation.
I have to say, what I am told all the time is that we have too many targets but we need to get the right targets.
Certainly, that is something that I am willing to consider as part of getting the right targets and making sure that we measure the right things.''