Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the NHS Confederation which represents over 90 per cent of NHS organisations, said:
“Reducing waiting times for diagnostic tests is clearly extremely important for patients and their clinicians. The Healthcare Commission’s report demonstrates a significant achievement in reducing the length of waits for such tests.
“But NHS trusts will want to ensure that waiting for procedures such as x-rays is not simply transferred into waiting for the actual results. Trusts will therefore be paying close attention to the Commission’s recommendations to improve the reporting of results. This will be particularly important for the NHS with the introduction of new providers in diagnostic testing.”