Access to diagnostics in primary care and the impact on a primary care led health service.

We undertook a postal survey of GPs to establish their current access to radiological and endoscopic tests. More than one fifth of GPs do not have direct access to abdominal (n = 42, 21.4%) or pelvic (n = 49, 24.6%) ultrasound in the public system. Where access is available public patients have an average 14 week waiting period. In stark contrast in the private system virtually all GPs have direct access (n = 159, 99.2% and n = 156, 98.8% respectively for abdominal and pelvic ultrasound) with an average wait of just over four days. Direct access to CT scan in the public system is available to the minority of GPs, e.g. n = 31, 18.4% for chest scan, in the public system; even where available, there is an average 12 week wait for this. In comparison 151 (88.6%) GPs have access to CT chest scanning in the private sector with an average waiting time of 5.4 working days. Such limited access to diagnostics impacts on the delivery of a quality service.