jo revill, health editor
sunday august 6, 2006
the observer
patients are at risk of developing serious illness, including terminal lung cancer,
because hospitals are failing to follow up thousands of x-rays that reveal
abnormalities, a leaked letter has revealed.
senior doctors have warned the troubled patient safety watchdog that for large
numbers of x-rays on which diseases such as lung cancer or tuberculosis have
been spotted, follow-up action is taken late or not at all. in one hospital almost
a third of x-rays indicating disease were neglected. thousands of patients are
at risk of their cancers or infections worsening if they are not treated quickly.
the national patient safety agency (npsa) has not yet alerted hospitals to the
danger. the agency, which was described as '；dysfunctional'； by a parliamentary
committee last month, said it had no plans to issue guidance about x-rays until
december, nine months after it was told about the problem.
the observer revealed last week that scans of 100,000 patients were stored
in cardboard boxes, and not correctly analysed, over four years at the royal
london hospital in east london. the doctor who revealed this, dr otto chan,
was sacked, although the barts and the london nhs trust has denied that his
dismissal was to do with the x-rays.
others trusts are thought to have built up similar backlogs, partly because of
a shortage of radiologists. as far back as 2000, the royal college of radiologists
warned that staff were unable to cope with all the scans and films, as diagnostic
services were receiving less nhs funding than other departments.
a letter about the current situation was sent to the npsa in march by dr peter
homa, then head of st george'；s hospital in south london. a study of lung cancer
patients at his hospital had revealed that in 18 per cent of cases the x-rays that
first revealed abnormalities were not followed up quickly or in the right way,
leaving the disease to progress.
describing the situation as '；a significant risk'； for patients, homa wrote: '；during
the course of the study it became clear that the existing electronic information
systems currently in use throughout the nhs do not provide fail-safe processes
to prevent or minimise the risk of patient safety incidents.'；
he cited another study, at the hope hospital in manchester last year, which
showed that for 27 per cent of suspicious chest x-rays, either action was seriously
delayed or no action was taken at all.
the crisis in diagnostic services has built up because hospitals frequently lose
x-ray films, they are sent to the wrong doctor, or the clinics have no proper
process for dealing with reports showing abnormalities. more than 20 million
x-rays are taken each year in the nhs, but many patients are never told the
results, and assume that they must be clear of disease if they hear nothing.
but researchers at st george'；s concluded from their study that patients should
be encouraged to ask for their test results, as a way of double-checking.
the government'；s new digital electronic system for storing x-rays, known as
picture archiving and communications systems (pacs), also does not allow
staff to check whether an x-ray film showing signs of illness is swiftly followed up.
the npsa is in turmoil, with its two job-sharing chief executives, sue osborn and
sue williams, put on '；gardening leave'； and another official put in their place.
they are still collecting their joint salary of £；160,000 but a government source
said they were作者: 岩光蛋 时间: 2006-8-10 16:10
呵呵，考英语啊。麻烦老兄把它翻译过来。作者: liuliu100 时间: 2006-8-10 21:14
啊；兄弟英语唉；可希我差点；作者: 西北偏北 时间: 2006-8-11 01:16
：） 国人的英语水平也要比他们差远了．．．!作者: chenjz 时间: 2006-8-13 01:57
国人的英语水平也要比他们差远了．．．!作者: wrj0324 时间: 2006-8-16 04:59
全英文版？？？一看就头晕。。。。。作者: 火中金 时间: 2006-8-17 02:22
全英文版？？？一看就头晕。。。。。作者: 火中金 时间: 2006-8-17 02:23
全英文版？？？一看就头晕。。。。。作者: 弈飞 时间: 2006-8-17 02:40
是啊是啊,看人那孩子,打小就会流利的英语,哪个溜………………作者: 情义 时间: 2006-8-17 23:32
晕晕晕晕作者: tzw136 时间: 2006-8-18 23:00
全英文版？？？一看就头晕.作者: jinguoji 时间: 2006-8-19 23:24 标题: 回复：看看英国《观察家报》对放射医生的看法