Only 41% of respondents said that a hospital doctor explained x-ray results to them, according to a survey from the Patients Association and the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR). About 29% received details from their general practitioners (GPs), while 23% received no explanation at all.
The survey, which took place from October 2015 to April 2016, found that 85% of patients heard their results within four weeks, while the remainder waited more than one month to get the findings.
In addition, Under the scan: patients' views of X-rays and scans in the UK noted that 63% of patients want to receive imaging results in person, while 25% of respondents want to get results by email or website login.
The U.K. government has mandated that patients receive imaging results with 28 days from referral to test result by 2020 to help prevent cancer deaths, which total approximately 11,000 people annually.
RCR estimates that some 230,000 patients currently have to wait more than a month for test results. Approximately 12,000 patients are waiting for CT and MRI results, which can help detect cancer.
