The following statistics were released today by the Department of Health:
Diagnostics waiting times & activity data, month ending 31 October 2011, and quarterly census for quarter ending 30 September 2011
The monthly data published today gives the waiting times for 15 key diagnostic tests carried out in the NHS.
More information, including a diagnostic data Q&A, is available on the DH website.
Main findings this month
• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting 6 weeks or more for any one of the 15 key diagnostics tests at the end of October 2011 was 7,600, a decrease of 2,000 from September 2011, but an increase of 2,200 from October 2010.
• Of the patients waiting at the end of October 2011, 98.7% had been waiting under 6 weeks, compared to 98.3% in September 2011, and 99.0% in October 2010.
• The quarterly census of all tests, carried out at the end of June 2011, indicates there are an additional 4,700 6 week waiters in tests not captured in the 15 included in the monthly return. This is a decrease of 500 6 week waits since the June 2011 census
