MP targets unacceptable waiting times
 An MP has moved an early day motion (EDM) about 'unacceptable waiting times' for MRI scans and he is looking to Society members to lobby their member of parliament to back his measure.
The EDM by Edward Davey, the member of parliament for Kingston and Surbiton says:
This House expresses great concern at the mounting crisis in the National Health Service over unacceptable waiting times for essential MRI scans in many parts of the UK; notes that research has found patients waiting six months or more at two in five NHS trusts and a year or longer at one in five NHS trusts for MRI scans, which are used to detect brain tumours, cancers and serious heart conditions; further notes that of the 60 per cent of trusts who reported having received scans from mobile MRI units as part of the Government's contract with Alliance Medical, 45 per cent believed that they had been forced to reduce capacity or forgo growth to accommodate this involvement with the private sector; condemns the enforced mothballing of expensive scanning equipment due to lack of trained staff and funding; and calls on the Government to act now to tackle the problem of hidden waiting times for vital scans and to publish information on how long people are waiting on the NHS for tests and scans as soon as possible.
"The failure of ministers to move faster on the waiting time for MRI scans is nothing short of a scandal,” Mr Davey said to Synergy.
"It was my own constituents who first made me aware of the long waits and how even people suffering from painful or potentially life-threatening conditions were being forced to wait months. The Department of Health have tried to cover the facts up for too long and we need a lot more transparency and honesty on these matters."
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