WAITING lists for diagnostic tests, including cancer scans, have doubled in 10 years to a record 1.6 million in England amid a  “staggering shortfall” of clinical radiologists.

The latest NHS England figures show nearly 500,000 patients are waiting for CT scans and MRIs alone.

More than 365,000 patients were waiting six weeks or more from referral for one of 15 key diagnostic tests at the end of May, with around 22 per cent waiting six weeks or longer for tests overall, compared with the NHS target of less than 1 per cent.

Royal College of Radiologists president Katharine Halliday said: “The UK is facing a critical workforce shortage in diagnostics and cancer care, with a staggering 30 per cent shortfall among clinical radiologists and a 15 per cent shortfall of clinical oncologists.

“Retention problems and low staff morale exacerbate these shortages, which in turn lead to longer waits for diagnoses, increased anxiety for patients and delayed cancer treatments. Every month’s delay in starting treatment can raise the risk of death by 10 per cent.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan said: “The Labour government must shift its messaging rapidly from ‘the NHS is broken’ to action on restoring the NHS.

“Severe shortages of scanners must be remedied quickly but so too the gap in trained key staff, part of the legacy of neglect they inherit.

“They must urgently invest in NHS staff and NHS equipment and resources, to build for the future.

“It will be a serious error to invest further in the private sector, whose only ‘spare capacity’ is built by taking more radiologists, oncologists, surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses out of the NHS.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “The longer patients wait for tests and scans, the worse their outcomes will be. We’ve got to get patients diagnosed much earlier.”

Children and young people meanwhile risk becoming a forgotten generation owing to crippling waits for NHS care, health leaders warned in a report published today.

NHS Providers said 82 per cent of trusts it surveyed are unable to meet the current demand for children and young people’s services.

Its survey found that rising demand and long waits for services are the biggest challenges for trusts, with more and more children needing help.

Chief executive Sir Julian Hartley called for a “cast-iron commitment from the new government and NHS England that the physical and mental health of children and young people will be a priority.”