Ministers were last night considering sending in a management hit squad to run a north London hospital after it admitted that 2,700 patients had faced delays of up to a year in being screened for tumours, cysts, gallstones and other conditions.
The chief executive of the Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals trust resigned and the consultant radiologist responsible for ultrasound scanning at the Chase Farm site in Enfield is understood to have been suspended while the failures are investigated.
A helpline has been set up to advise worried patients, although most have already been contacted since the hospital authorities reported the shortcomings to the commission for health improvement (CHI), the government inspectorate, during a routine assessment of its clinical management.
The CHI has launched a separate investigation, which comes only two years after it was discovered 800 tests were not done.
It is understood requests for ultrasound scans were not dealt with, rather than pa tients falling further behind in a queue. A spokeswoman said: "We cannot say at this stage whether anyone had an adverse outcome but people with serious conditions may have had diagnoses delayed."
The hospital trust said the backlog of referrals from GPs and other doctors had built up until last September. "The majority of the patients have now had their ultrasound tests," the trust said. "All the other patients have either been given an appointment or will be offered one to have their scan before the end of February."
Elizabeth Heyer, the trust's chief executive, resigned, offering her "sincere apologies" to patients. "This is a major systems failure for which I accept responsibility." John Bacon, regional director for the NHS, said: "Waiting can increase worry for patients. I am determined that patients' minds are set at rest as quickly as possible."
The Department of Health said ministers took the events extremely seriously. "Patients and staff will rightly be concerned about how this hospital has been managed in the past and how its management can be strengthened in the fu ture to avoid a repeat of these events." The department added that the trust's organisation was under urgent review and ministers would be assessing whether it should be among those to be named next Monday as being threatened with being "franchised" to other health bodies to run.
In September , the trust was named as one of the worst 12 performing hospitals in England. Ms Heyer was said by the NHS to have had a "long and distinguished record in senior management".
The Royal College of Radiologists has complained that members across Britain are being swamped by extra workloads.
The CHI said last night that members of the public would be invited to give their experience of the hospital's radiology and ultrasound services. Peter Homa, its chief executive, said: "Many people have been failed by this system. It is vital that the trust understands why this happened and puts in place systems to stop it happening again.
"CHI's investigation will help it do that and it will provide important lessons for the rest of the NHS." The helpline number is 0845 4647.
