UK
NHS spending on private-sector scans triples in five years, despite the number falling

Laura Donnelly
Sun, 18 February 2024

Official data shows 150,000 patients have been waiting more than 13 weeks for a diagnostic test, including 90,000 patients waiting for tests and scans used to detect cancer - PHIL BOORMAN/IMAGE SOURCE

NHS spending on scans by the private sector has tripled - while the number carried out has fallen, official figures show.

Labour said the NHS spent £1.1bn on outsourced radiology in the past five years, while the number of scans carried out fell by 200,000 in 2022/23, compared with 2018/19.

Meanwhile the cost per scan went from £31 to £100, the analysis found.


The figures, disclosed in a parliamentary answer, show £368,858 spent in 2022/23 on around 3,7 million outsourced diagnostic scans. In 2018/19 spending on such activity amounted to £123,817 on around 3.9 million scans.

Labour has pledged to double NHS scanning capacity, with use of services on a seven-day basis, in order to cut backlogs.

Official figures show there are currently 1.6 million people waiting for diagnostic scans and tests in England, three times the number in 2010.

The data shows 150,000 patients have been waiting more than 13 weeks for a diagnostic test, including 90,000 patients waiting for tests and scans used to detect cancer.
Diagnostic test

The NHS target is for 99 per cent of patients to wait less than six weeks for a diagnostic test, but this has not been met in England since February 2017.

Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, said: “Under the Tories, we’re paying more but getting less. The NHS can’t afford money to be wasted as the Conservatives have – it needs every penny spent wisely.

“Having gone through kidney cancer, I know that an early diagnosis can be the difference between life and death. The Conservatives have failed to arm our NHS with the tools to do its job, and patients are paying the price.”

He said Labour would double the number of scanners, with AI used in every hospital, funding the expansion by abolishing the non-dom status.

The Conservatives have repeatedly questioned whether abolition of the non-dom status would be sufficient to fund a raft of NHS policies Labour has proposed.

Both parties have said they intend to expand use of the private sector to help cut waiting lists.

Analysis by the King’s Fund think tank has shown that diagnostic capacity in the UK is falling behind that of other comparable countries. The UK ranks 25th out of 28 OECD countries for CT scanners, with fewer scanners per person than in Greece.'

Cancer patients

It comes as the Liberal Democrats highlighted waits for cancer patients, with just one in four cancer patients starting treatment within 62 days.

Official NHS figures show more than 100,000 patients with cancer waited at least two months to start treatment last year.

The party’s analysis shows that at some trusts, just one in four cancer patients start treatment within 62 days. At Liverpool Women’s NHS Trust just 23 per cent of patients were treated within 62 days. At Royal Papworth it was 38 per cent and at Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust it was just 44 per cent, the analysis found.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a legal right for cancer patients to start receiving treatment within two months.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP, said: “It is heart-wrenching to see such a stark postcode lottery of cancer care across the country. We know how important it is to find and treat cancer early to give people the best chance of survival. Sadly, under this Conservative government, this is happening far too little.”

“Behind every single one of these numbers is a story of fear, discomfort and anxiety for thousands of families up and down the country. This Conservative government has failed to prioritise cancer treatment times so people are simply not getting the care they need in time. It is a shameful indictment of their neglect of our health service.”