Gwent NHS patients see fall in long waits for tests

The July 31 figure - 2,895 - was the lowest since March (2,491), and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board believes it can still eliminate waits of more than eight weeks for tests by the end of next March.

However, a report to go before its board members later this week acknowledges that this aim remains open to a number of risks.

One is a continuing problem with endoscopy equipment, which has caused hundreds of cancellations in recent months, and a further 72 patients saw their appointments postponed in August.

There is believed to be flexibility in the action plan for this service to enable it make up lost ground, though this might become difficult later in the year if the issue is not resolved.

There are challenges too, in radiology.

With nuclear medicine this is mainly, according to the report, due to a shortage of radio-pharmaceuticals and a reliance on consultant cardiology cover, though extra sessions carried out last month reduced the backlog slightly.

There has also been extra demand for CT scans, linked particularly to cancer patients, though extra sessions during the summer have reduce the numbers of people waiting for CT and MRI scans.

More staff have been taken on in recent weeks, an effect of which will be to enable more senior staff to be trained to carry out CT scanning.

But even with weekend sessions planned for MRI scans during the autumn, along with extended days for CT scans, the report cautions that there remain risks to eliminating waits of longer than eight weeks in radiology.

Encouragingly, the number of patients would had been waiting eight-14 weeks for a test by July 31 was, at 898, the lowest for five-and-a-half years.

It is the waits of longer than 14 weeks that currently present the biggest challenge however.

There were 1,997 patients in this bracket by the end of July, though this was an improvement on the figures for the previous two months.