Cancer tests in shops to clear NHS backlog

Network of Covid-free ‘one-stop’ diagnostic sites built away from hospitals will help ease waiting list

THE NHS will create new testing centres for cancer, heart disease and other illnesses in 160 unused shops and retail parks across the country in a bid to clear a record backlog of patients.

Health chiefs said the need to diagnose and treat patients safely – away from those with Covid-19 – had underlined the need to for radical reform.

A damning report by Prof Sir Mike Richards, the former cancer tsar, today warns that even before the pandemic the NHS was reaching a “tipping point” with services unable to meet demand.

It states that England “l ags far behind” other industrialised nations for provision of testing equipment, and ranks lowest in the OECD for CT scanner provision. It also says that without reform and investment, existing waiting targets are unlikely to be hit.

Sir Mike’s report reveals that the numbers facing long waits for diagnostic tests rose 20-fold during lockdown. By early June, about 580,000 were waiting more than six weeks for a diagnostic test, compared with about 30,000 in February, it warns.

Experts have warned that the total waiting list – which is already four million – could now reach 10 million, because of the backlog of tests and treatment that was delayed during lockdown.

Yesterday, the board of NHS England approved Sir Mike’s proposals for a network of about 160 “one-stop shops” across the country. Facilities will be opened in empty shops and retail parks to ensure that as many patients as possible can be assessed in “Covid-free” sites. Under the changes, which involve three permanent community testing hubs per million people, the majority of routine checks – such as MRI, X-rays and CT scans – would take place away from hospitals.

Sir Mike, who was the first NHS national cancer director and the Care Quality Commission’s chief inspector of hospitals, said that the need for radical change had been amplified by the pandemic.

To protect patients from Covid-19, those undergoing planned tests must be kept away from emergency patients, he said. The separate systems should also ensure that the most urgent cases underwent tests more quickly, he said.

The report says hospitals with an A&E should have access to at least two CT scanners so patients known to be Covidfree can be kept separate from those who have the virus or have not been tested.

Sir Mike said: “The pandemic has brought into sharper focus the need to overhaul the way our diagnostic services are delivered. While these changes will take time and investment in facilities and more staff, it is the right moment to seize the opportunities to assist recovery and renewal of the NHS.

Not only will these changes make services more accessible and convenient for patients but they will help improve outcomes for patients with cancer and other serious conditions.”

He said that while some of the reforms would take time, and investment in staff and services, some could be introduced with immediate effect. The plans require a doubling of CT scanning capacity over five years and 6,000 more radiographers and radiologists.

Sir Mike was commissioned by Sir Simon Stevens, the NHS chief executive, to review diagnostic services as part of the Long Term Plan published last year.