An inquiry by the public accounts committee into the NHS has revealed that approximately two out of every five patients who are suspected of having suffered a stroke have to wait for longer than 24 hours before having a scan.

The committee looked into the use of expensive scanning equipment and has led calls for the Department of Health to re-examine the use of high value equipment, with some scanners not being shared between NHS trusts and some trusts shown to be using the equipment more efficiently than others.

The committee’s chair, Margaret Hodge, said that she was shocked at the “unacceptable variations” that existed between trusts and said that the way equipment was bought was not providing good value for money for the taxpayer. The health minister Simon Burns said that the government would look at the findings and would examine ways of enforcing collaboration between trusts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/25/nhs-inefficiency-stroke-scan-delays