Are all areas in the UK taking longer and longer to report on scan results?

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Just wondering. I moved between 2 health boards in Scotland towards the end of last year. 3 year CT scan, which was due in May, wasn't performed till the end of July (after chasing the appointment up twice). Colorectal nurse asked me to call for results after 3 weeks if I'd not heard anything back. I waited 4 weeks to give them a bit more time but have been told that they're not available yet and that there's no rhyme or reason for when they might be, which seems a bit random. Last year it took around 10 days. Maybe I'm expecting too much of course.

  • Hi BlueBlue welcome to the forum. As far as I know most things are running behind for lots of different reasons up and down the country. That is absolutely of no help to you at all waiting on results. I think you keep doing what you are doing and keep calling to chase these up. Its not  right that we have to do that, but needs must. 

    Hope it all works out well for you and sending very best wishes your way for now.  

    gail

     
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  • Hi  

    I did notice that holiday season pushes them back . In Glasgow the vast majority of the time it was two to three weeks but for a couple of years it went up to six or seven and were even being reported abroad.  However that seemed to resolve and last year I noticed they were back to two weeks . 
    Hope you get good news soon .

    Court x 

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  • Many thanks  

    Yes, that seems to be the case, sadly.  I'll leave it another week or so and contact them again.

  • Hi  It's lovely to see your name pop up. I hope that you're doing OK and just taking things a day at a time.

    Yes, I think I was spoiled last year as the scans in the Borders were carried out and assessed by a private company (due to backlogs). I shall just have to be patient. This scanxiety doesn't get any easier!

    Thank you x

  • It seems that the use of non-intrusive scans has increased for various conditions, of which cancer is just one. Look at any factual UK TV programme about A&E or general surgery. The process depends on the availability of skilled personnel to assess the images in detail and this might be the weak point. My last two annual reviews with the colorectal surgeon didn't achieve much because the CT results were not available. We had a general chat (although he did check my stomas and abdomen) and he said that if anything came up he would let me know. The most recent was about four months ago and I have heard nothing since. No news is good news for me and taking things into account I feel fine, have a good appetite and stay reasonably active so what more can I wish for? For this reason I won't contact the colorectal team to chase them as it was clear that their workload was increasing. The surgeon told me that the age of recently diagnosed patients was noticeably younger. Could this be a consequence of more and more people being scanned? 

    Dulac

  • Hi  and thank you for your reply. I agree, there definitely looks to be increasing pressure due to various factors and delays are worsening. The reason I contacted the team after 4 weeks was because my colorectal nurse advised that results would be available after 2 weeks but stressed that I should get in touch if I'd not heard anything by the 3 week mark (she indicated that there had been instances of folks slipping through the net).

    Most definitely spoiled last year with telephone results after 10 days (although the follow up letter from the surgeon to confirm took 2 months). The scan and interpretation of the scan had been farmed out to a 3rd party company, probably at considerable expense.

    As you say though, I feel fine and no news is good news so we just bash on (with fingers crossed).

    Take care.