NHS spends record £241m outsourcing scan analysis to private firms

The NHS is paying private firms record sums to analyse diagnostic scans because hospitals are too busy and understaffed to do the work themselves, research has revealed.

The amount being spent on outsourced the interpretation of CT and MRI scans is “spiralling out of control” and reflects a short-sighted failure to train enough doctors, ministers are being told.

Scans are vital for diagnosing diseases such as cancer and for monitoring patients’ responses to treatment, so they need to be done quickly. Many hospitals, however, rely on non-NHS health companies reading some scans to ensure they get the results promptly.

NHS trusts and health boards across the UK gave £241m to private firms to undertake such work last year. As demand increases, spending has doubled in five years from £120min 2021 and tripled from the £81m spent in 2018.

The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), which collated the figures in its annual workforce census, said health service spending on private scan reading was “ballooning”. The NHS-wide shortage of radiologists has left hospitals with too little capacity to read all scans, meaning the service is “haemorrhaging” cash to independent firms, it said.

The RCR also raised concerns that the analysis done by private firms was sometimes so poor that NHS radiologists had to read scans again, raising questions about the benefit of outsourcing.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 May 2026