Trusts ordered to help with ‘heartbreaking’ diagnostic delays

NHS England has told trusts they must help neighbours to cut the number of children waiting for hearing tests, even if it affects their own performance.

NHS England co-medical director for secondary care Meghana Pandit has written to regional and integrated care board leaders warning that some areas have fallen behind in responding to serious concerns about paediatric audiology.

In 2023, an NHSE audit found that more than a thousand children might have been misdiagnosed or had problems missed. As of February, 1,374 children were still waiting to be seen, and of the 775 who had been assessed, 31 had suffered severe or permanent harm and another 76 moderate harm.

Trusts that have previously confirmed that children had diagnoses missed include Barts Health Trust, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust, and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust.

Professor Pandit said some areas had missed the national “ambition” of recalling and reassessing all patients by the end of March. They are then due to be discharged or have started treatment by the end of September.

ICBs now have until 20 June to submit detailed plans on how they will achieve this, and providers are expected to prioritise the reassessments.

The letter, written with chief scientific officer Sue Hill and diagnostics director Rhydian Phillips, said: “The risk of decline in an individual provider’s diagnostic six-week wait performance should not be a reason to decline support to this process. It has been agreed nationally that the review, recall and reassessment process should be prioritised in the short term.”

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Source: HSJ, 6 June 2025