Election: Labour criticised for failure to acknowledge 'hidden' waiting lists
In the run up to the general election, the Liberal Demo-crats has promised an extra £350m to help cut waiting times for medical diagnoses and has criticised Labour's method of managing the healthcare system.
Figures released by the party suggest that around 500,000 people have to wait up to six months for essential tests such as MRI scans, which are used to detect tumours, cancers and serious heart conditions.
Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, blamed the problem on Labour's failure to acknowledge these so called 'hidden' waiting lists.
"At present, the Govern-ment only measures the time taken from when a person is diagnosed with an illness until they are actually being treated. These targeted wai-ting times are indeed being reduced. But those on the hidden waiting lists - those waiting for tests and scans to find out what is wrong with them - have seen no action," Kennedy said.
"Our commitment is to the forgotten people in the NHS system - those on the hidden waiting lists that the Labour Government does not even bother to measure," he added.
However, in a bid to tackle the issue, Labour has pledged that all women suspected of having breast cancer should see a consultant within two weeks of a referral by a GP. Currently, only women deemed as high risk are seen by a consultant within the referral period.
However, while some cancer campaigners have applauded the proposal, many were disappointed the promise will not embrace all cancer cases.
Dr Richard Sullivan, head of clinical programmes at Cancer Research UK, said: "If a person has a suspected case of cancer, whether it be breast, prostate, lung or ovarian, they will want to be referred."
