Patients wait for CT scan results sent to Australia to be reviewed.

Two weeks ago Christine attended Queen’s hospital with her daughter. The Romford mum had dialled 111, attended the Harold Wood Walk in Centre first and then got sent to Queen’s hospital with her daughter to have a CT scan.

Her 27 year old daughter nurses at the Walk In Centre feared might have had a stroke. As a result, they called and arranged for Christine and her daughter to attend the Romford hospital.

Christine told the Havering Daily:

“We had let Queen’s know we were coming as my daughter needed a CT scan. We arrived there at 2.30pm and were seen at 5.30pm. There is a rafting system that allows people to be seen and we were given a ticket a bit like the meat counter.

“From there we waited until 8pm to have the scan and then had to wait hours for the scan results to be returned. Patients sitting everywhere, had told us that the delay comes from the scans being sent to Australia to be reviewed. It was bad enough for us having to wait hours out there, I don’t know how elderly people can wait sitting in such poor conditions.

“I really was gobsmacked to see how bad things are there. The majority of the nurses do such an amazing job but are clearly doing jobs they shouldn’t be such a filing, walking around with files in their hands.

“It is so badly organised and there is way too much bureaucracy. Why are our scans being sent to Australia to be reviewed? Surely if there were people at the hospital reviewing them, they could be done so much faster and people would not have to wait so long as they are now.

“We asked the doctor if my daughter could go home and they told us we had to wait for the results of the scan and also said that the delay had come from the scans being sent to Australia.

“Most of the staff there do such an amazing job but the organisation and poor setup means so much time is wasted and there is way too much bureaucracy.”

In response Barking,Havering and Redbridge University Hospital Trust have said:

“Our Trust has a contract with Everlight Radiology that allows us to report CT, ED and inpatient examinations overnight. Everlight, who are based in the UK and Australia, provide services to several other trusts in London and elsewhere. Most trusts use similar offsite reporting services overnight and it has become the standard model of operation across healthcare.”