Tragic case raised at PMQs as Shropshire MP highlights NHS waiting times

MP Helen Morgan raised a shocking story of a cancer sufferer’s five-month wait for a scan result as she challenged the Labour government over Shropshire’s health delays.

The North Shropshire MP spoke at PMQs to raise the fact that Shropshire has the worst record for CT and MRI scan delays in the country.

Helen has been inundated with complaints from constituents who have faced unacceptably long waits, both from patients awaiting a diagnosis and from those already undergoing treatment.

Speaking in the Commons, she raised one awful example where a constituent with serious bowel cancer was receiving unsuitable chemotherapy because the scan result took so long.

This comes after the Royal College of Radiologists publicised information showing that 8.3% of CT and MRI scans in the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin area have been taking over one month to be read. This is the worst of any NHS Integrated Care Board in England.

The RCR say that across England there is a 31% shortage of radiologists. This has a knock-on impact to wider NHS waiting times and poor health outcomes, particularly in rural areas short of specialist provision.

Patients often face a long wait to get a scan in the first place and then a further long wait to get the result.

Helen Morgan has challenged the Government to act on yet another statistic where Shropshire is bottom of the table.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, said, “I was contacted last week by a constituent whose husband has stage four bowel cancer. He had a routine scan in June, but didn't receive the results until early November and unfortunately, within that period, he received unsuitable chemotherapy and his cancer has progressed.

“Given that Shropshire has the worst record in the country for CT and MRI scan results, can I ask the Deputy Prime Minister the same question that my constituent has asked me?

“When is the Government going to address this problem?”

Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, replied, “'m sincerely sorry to hear about your constituent's husband and the terrible diagnosis at stage four and the delays in that we've set out before how difficult the inheritance was in terms of the cancer diagnosis waiting list. People are waiting far too long for treatment. It's why the Chancellor put record money and funding into our NHS so that we can catch cancer on time.

I know that the House Secretary is determined to do this as a personal endeavour to him to make sure that people are not having to wait and don't end up in the circumstances that are so tragic for your constituent.”