Hospitals in England have a severe shortage of diagnostic equipment, including CT and MRI scanners, ahead of the expected surge in demand following the first wave of the coronavirus disease outbreak, National Health Service (NHS) officials told The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Hospitals in England have a severe shortage of diagnostic equipment, including CT and MRI scanners, ahead of the expected surge in demand following the first wave of the coronavirus disease outbreak, National Health Service (NHS) officials told The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.
"Much of the existing stock is faulty and unreliable, causing delay, disruption and added anxiety for patients," Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, the organization that represents the health service's trusts, told the newspaper.
These shortages will be exacerbated given that the NHS expects to see a surge in demand for scans and other treatments as the country emerges from the first wave of its COVID-19 outbreak, Cordery added.
"The pressures are likely to intensify in the coming months as more people are referred for scans, reflecting pent up demand that didn't surface during the initial surge of Covid-19 cases," the NHS Providers deputy chief executive told the newspaper.
The number of people in England waiting for six weeks or more for imaging diagnostics has surged from 20,898 in May 2019 to 326,525 exactly one year later, the newspaper stated, citing government statistics.
In a statement to the newspaper, NHS England said that further diagnostic capacity was required in order to meet demand.
Millions of non-urgent surgeries and consultations were canceled by the UK's NHS due to the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic. A report in June assessed the potential to resume elective surgeries, although medical officials are predicting a severe backlog that would put immense pressure on the health service.
