Inquiry over 2,700 who waited for tests

The chief executive of a troubled London hospital trust has been forced to resign after it emerged that almost 3,000 patients due to undergo tests to diagnose conditions including cancer were left on a waiting list.

A backlog of 2,700 patients waiting for ultrasound scans built up at Chase Farm Hospitals, it emerged today. Some of the patients had been on the waiting list for up to a year. Government inspectors have launched an inquiry which will focus on whether any patients were harmed and why the backlog was undetected for so long.

The patients involved had been referred mostly by GPs for ultrasound scans used to diagnose conditions including testicular and ovarian cancer, tumours, cysts and gallstones.

A hospital spokeswoman said: "This was a systems failure. We cannot say why nobody detected this sooner. That will now be investigated."

Inspectors from the government watchdog, the Commission for Health Improvement (Chi), discovered the problem during a routine inspection of the trust last month. Chi has now launched a separate investigation.

Chief executive Elizabeth Hyder announced her resignation last night. She said in a statement: "I wish to offer my sincere apologies to those patients affected by this incident. This is a major system failure for which I accept responsibility as chief executive.

"I feel that now it is time for someone else to take forward the continuing development of Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Hospitals Trust."

The waiting list peaked at 2,700 last September. A hospital spokeswoman said the current list is down to almost 400 and all those still waiting will be offered an appointment before the end of this month. None of the patients involved are pregnant women and all had been classified as to be seen "soon" or "non-urgent".

Chi has also discovered that a similar backlog of 800 patients built up at the hospital two years ago and the hospital has admitted that the radiology department did not follow "established reporting procedures" - implying that the patients disappeared from official statistics.

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust received a zero in the recent star ratings published by the Department of Health after failing in areas including waiting times, cancelled operations and financial planning.

Elizabeth Manero, chairman of London Health Link and former chairman of Barnet Community Health Council, the local watchdog, said: "This just leaves you speechless. It's unbelievable that this was not picked up sooner. Coupled with the fact that the trust got zero stars, this is a real concern for the community."

Hospital trusts monitor how long patients spend on outpatient waiting lists and a target of no wait longer than 26 weeks must be reached by this April. Ms Manero added: "These were basically invisible patients. It appears they were not on the hospital system at all - which is unbelievable."

Mike Stone, director of the Patients Association, said: "We have seen patients disappearing from waiting lists before, but never to this scale.

"This should never have happened. Now it needs thorough investigation and the whole administrative system at Chase Farm should be scrutinised."