By Tom Barton

9 Aug, 2002

Page 11

PATIENTS in North Wales are facing long waits for potentially life-saving scans because of a staffing crisis.

Wrexham Maelor Hospital has vacancies for four consultant radiologists, while Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan, and Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor each have one vacancy.

Waiting times for some of the tests - which include X-rays, CT scans, and cancer-detecting MRI scans - are now as high as four months in North Wales hospitals.

Dr Charles McConnell, a consultant radiologist at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, yesterday spoke of the difficulties faced by his team, which has been looking for an extra specialist for the past three years.

'This makes it impossible to run the equipment for longer than the standard working day - if you could extend the working day of the equipment into the evening or at weekends, then you could get more patients through,' he said.

An Audit Commission report, published yesterday, suggested that one of the keys to cutting the UK waiting list for radiology services is to operate the machines for longer.

Dr McConnell added that it would be possible for his department to see about 12pc more patients if an extra specialist was employed and placed the blame for the recruitment crisis on a failure by the Government to increase the number of training places.

'Doctors are wanting to enter radiology but there aren't enough training posts for them. There has been a huge expansion in the number of consultants required, and over the last 10 years there hasn't been a corresponding expansion of the junior staff,' he said.

Waiting times for a number of scans - including a procedure for detecting kidney cancer - at Maelor Hospital are among the worst 25pc in Britain.

However, appointments for CT and MRI scans at the Wrexham hospital are quicker than the national average, and are set to improve following the launch of a new MRI scanner last week.

Appointment times for ultrasound procedures at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd are amongst the longest in the UK, although a spokesman pointed out that most radiological procedures were carried out in less than four weeks.

Ysbyty Gwynedd yesterday said they had been meeting the target for seeing people with suspected cancer in less than two weeks, while very few patients wait more than 12 weeks for a scan.

However, a significant amount of the hospital's equipment is older than the Royal College of Radiologists' recommended maximum age of seven years although their MRI scanner has recently been replaced and they are due to receive a new CT scanner next month.