Record number of people waiting for NHS diagnostic tests in England

A record number of people are waiting for a diagnostic test on the NHS, triggering fears that delays in accessing CT and MRI scans could endanger patients’ health.

A total of 1.92 million patients in England are waiting to have a test to diagnose their illness such as by an ultrasound scan, assessment of their hearing, bone scan or various tests for cancer.

Demand for tests is outstripping the NHS’s ability to meet it and one in five of those on the waiting list – more than 400,000 people – are having to wait longer than the supposed six-week maximum, an analysis of diagnostic services in England has found.

The rise in the waiting list for diagnostic tests contrasts sharply with the NHS’s recent success in cutting the backlog for planned hospital care to 7.1 million, which was 500,000 fewer than in July 2025.

The Patients Association voiced deep unease at the situation and warned that patients’ health can deteriorate while they are waiting to have the diagnostic test needed to kickstart their treatment.

“A diagnostic test is not the end of a patient’s journey – it is the beginning. Without it, treatment cannot start, conditions deteriorate, and what might have been caught early becomes something far harder to treat,” said Rachel Power, its chief executive.

“When more than one in five patients is waiting beyond the NHS’s own six-week maximum, and median waiting times have risen by more than half since before the pandemic, that is deeply concerning for patients’ health.

“Every week of delay is a week a condition can worsen, a patient’s ability to live day-to-day can diminish, and their anxiety about what is wrong can grow,” she added.

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Source: The Guardian, 7 June 2026