Recurring concern
Failure to provide timely cardiology assessment
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Request correctionFirst reported 18 Oct 2013•Latest report 17 Jul 2024
What this concern includes
Includes failures of the cardiology assessment pathway that delay or prevent timely specialist assessment, including unavailable out-of-hours in-person cardiologist assessment, prolonged waits for cardiology appointments, and failures in referral or access arrangements that directly impair cardiology assessment.
Not included
- Excludes cardiac treatment, surgery, intervention or procedure-capacity failures where cardiology assessment access is not the unsafe condition.
- Excludes delays in cardiac investigations or test-result transfer unless they directly prevent or delay cardiology assessment.
- Excludes generic medical staffing, communication or inter-organisational coordination deficiencies unless they directly impair timely cardiology assessment.
- Excludes specialist assessment concerns outside cardiology unless the reports explicitly support the same cardiology assessment pathway.
- Reports
- 8
- Individual concerns
- 8
- Date range
- 2013–2024
- Stated actions
- 8
Distinct published reports
A report can raise multiple concerns
First to latest report issue date
Described in published responses
Reports over time
Reports over time
Reports about this concern issued each year.
* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.
Most frequent recipients
Most frequent recipients
Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.
Concerns and responses across reports
Only concerns grouped under this recurring concern are included. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.
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Concerns raised1
Delays in cardiology specialist appointments
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
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Action
Achieve the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by the end of this parliament.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care -
Action
Provide additional regional and national support and scrutiny to trusts with the largest elective-care backlogs, including Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care -
Action
Work towards eliminating elective-care waits exceeding 65 weeks by September 2024, consistent with NHS England’s 2024–25 planning guidance.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
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Concerns raised1
Delays in patients waiting to see a cardiologist
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.2
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Action
Deliver the Long-Term Workforce Plan, including expanded education, training, recruitment, retention, and strategic workforce planning.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Support local services to recover elective care, reduce waiting times, improve diagnostic turnaround, and create additional capacity for complex and urgent care.
Stated by NHS England
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Concerns raised1
Lack of automatic cardiology referral for in-patients with known cardiac failure
This report raised 1 other concern. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.2
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Position
Not all inpatients with known heart failure require automatic referral; referral is indicated when decompensation or fluid overload signs occur.
Stated by the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
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Position
Automatic referral is not adopted because it would place disproportionate additional pressure on the service without benefiting patients.
Stated by the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
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Concerns raised1
Unavailability of timely out-of-hours in-person cardiologist assessment for patients with suspected cardiac problems
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
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Action
Publish the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to expand, retain and reform the NHS workforce.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Continue delivering the Medical Specialty Distribution programme to redistribute postgraduate cardiology training places according to population need.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Implement seven-day cardiovascular service standards requiring timely consultant review, diagnostic access, consultant-directed interventions and ongoing high-dependency review.
Stated by NHS England
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB is responsible for explaining local cardiology provision, workforce arrangements and weekend transfer policy.
Stated by NHS England
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Concerns raised1
Delays in cardiology clinic assessment due to insufficient clinician or appointment-slot availability
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
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Concerns raised1
Insufficient cardiology capacity and out-of-hours cover for timely assessment
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
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Concerns raised1
Delays in requested cardiologist attendance
This report raised 4 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
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Concerns raised1
Delays in cardiology review for patients proposed for surgery
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
Data last updated 7 September 2026