NHS spending on outsourced scans triples

NHS SPENDING on scans by the private sector has tripled – while the number carried out has fallen, figures show.

Labour said the NHS spent £1.1billion 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 about 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. 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 show 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.

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 – it needs every penny spent wisely.

“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 Labour NHS policies. Both parties have said they will expand use of the private sector to cut waiting lists.