Diagnostics are becoming more of an everyday part of a patients’ pathway. This means that like other parts of the NHS, if diagnostic start to become a bottleneck, then potentially the pathway will suffer.

In this blog, I suggest it is time to relook carefully at the diagnostic demand, capacity and capability to better understand why such an increase has taken place.

I believe that Medical Technology can play a crucial role in improving this in many different ways. For example, could pathways be reduced, by adopting new medical technology? Are too many repeat scans completed, as patients wait longer and longer for treatment?

Facts and figures

Nearly 500,000 patients waited longer than 18 weeks in May 2018.  With 4.1m patients on a waiting list, does this mean more diagnostics will be performed on already listed patients, due to out of date scans requiring a repeat?

Over 21m diagnostic scans were completed in 2017/18. 134m events took place in secondary care in the NHS from A&E, Outpatients and hospital admissions. This statistic means that on average 1 in every 6 events had a related diagnostic scan.

In the same period of 2013/14,  1 in every 6 events still had a scan, but we saw 344k more patients for a scan in April 2018 than we did in April 2013.

So is it just that the system cannot keep up with the demand? Do we need to start building as we did back in 2000 when treatment centres were created to deal with the demand and be a release valve?

We spend a lot on diagnostic scans each year!

Do you know how much the NHS spends on diagnostic scans each year in secondary care? Would it surprise you to know that in 2016-17 over £789m was paid to the NHS Trusts and Independent providers for diagnostic scans, ranging from MRI, CT through to Dexa! An even bigger surprise is that the NHS, in the same period, declared costs of over £933m to deliver scans. Therefore means it cost £200m+ more than the CCGs funded the NHS Trusts!

No wonder we have a deficit position and Terresa May wants to inject a further £20bn a year. I wonder how many of those scans were repeated due to wait times? The pathway needs to be looked at as a stream in my view! Where in the flow can I improve or impact the patient's pathway, is it downstream or upstream? Will the system benefit from a shift in practice? Can we monitor this closely enough to make sure we know if it is working or not? Alternatively, as I fear are we just going to carry on putting a sticky plaster over it!

Time to look at the NHS capacity & diagnostic estate.

This brief overview has clearly shown that demand for diagnostics is continuing to accelerate. In a cash-strapped #NHS, the financial impact is a heavy burden to bear.  Surely the time is right for a full review of the equipment, true capacity and how diagnostics should be best delivered for the benefit of patients in the future.

Health Analytical Solutions has the knowledge and scientific expertise to analyse complex real-world data; To show those pathways which have a high diagnostic to surgery ratio and plot which are contributing most.

If you want to know more about the way in which we can help you better understand this challenge then drop us a line here...

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#diagnostics #Healthcare #NHS