IPSWICH: The town’s hospital has apologised to dozens of people who have had to wait weeks for scan results to be sent out to them.

Some departments at the Heath Road site, run by the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, are experiencing a “backlog” in sending out the results of non-urgent scans, with up to 50 people waiting about six weeks to receive them.

One patient, Robin Saunders, 51, of Woodbridge, said it was “absolutely disgusting” that yesterday he had still not been sent the results of an MRI scan carried out on June 24. He said that after complaining to the hospital last month, he had received a response to the complaint in the post the next day – but by yesterday he had still not received his results.

He said: “It’s a petty little thing, but at the end of the day I’m still waiting for something that’s approaching eight weeks and I think it’s unacceptable.

“Unless I know the results, I don’t know if it’s urgent or not. It’s ridiculous and unacceptable.”

A hospital trust spokesman said the results had been “issued” – passed on to the right department for analysis – the day after Mr Saunders’ scan on June 25, but a backlog or reports meant none had been processed and sent out to patients.

She said: “The delay is in the referring department – the department he needs to be seen by.

“We apologise for any delay. We are very sorry that that’s the case, but we have got an action plan to address that. Lots of people are in the same situation. We do appreciate that it is inconvenient.

“We have to deal with everything urgent and immediate (cases) first of all. Demand for this particular speciality is very high.” She said it was a “volume of work” issue, rather than a staffing issue, and confirmed that Mr Saunders’ test results had been faxed through to his GP surgery yesterday afternoon – something Mr Saunders had previously been told was not possible.

She added: “We are not talking about hundreds and hundreds (but) one person waiting is too many.”

n Have you had to wait weeks for scan results? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk