Cancer patients face delay as kit shortage limits blood tests

PATIENTS will be forced to wait for cancer tests because labs cannot get hold of testing reagents and kit, leaked emails reveal.

GPS have been told that only the most urgent blood tests can be carried out, because of problems dispatching thousands of items from manufacturers.

NHS managers said labs have been asked to “safeguard” supplies by “prioritising testing for urgent patients only”.

One of the laboratories involved said the most desperate cases – such as renal failure – would be prioritised as it faced long waits getting supplies from Roche.

The healthcare giant l ast night expressed “deep regret” about the delays, which could affect thousands of patients and are expected to last weeks.

One GP practice told Pulse magazine that i t had been forced to cancel appointments for hundeds of patients, many of whom had already seen care delayed during the pandemic.

Emails from NHS Lincolnshire Clinical Commisioning Group warn of a “national reagent shortage”, leaving labs with limited capacity for tests.

The testing bottleneck is affecting a host of blood tests, including those for prostate cancer, diabetes, HIV and a range of heart conditions.

Roche said the problems were caused by logistical problems after the opening of a distribution centre which disrupted the supply chain. A spokesman said the delays were not Covid-related.

Dr Phil Williams, a GP partner in Lincoln, said: “There’s no such thing as a routine blood test, and they’ve not given any guidance on what is urgent and what isn’t.

“We’re already trying to clear a backlog of blood tests from the beginning of Covid, and we’re approaching another period where patients may refuse to come in for blood tests again.”

The NHS is already battling a massive backlog of patients waiting for tests. Last week NHS England’s board papers revealed that the numbers facing long waits for diagnostic tests rose twentyfold during lockdown, with 580,000 waiting more than six weeks in June, compared with 30,000 in February.

A spokesman for Roche said: “We deeply regret that there has been a delay in the dispatch of some products.”