Every scan is a patient: The human case for faster diagnosis.

There is a moment that every patient dreads: the scan has been completed, the machine switches off, and then… nothing. Days turn to weeks. Phone calls go unanswered. The silence, as one patient told us, is filled with worry.  

At Hexarad, we call this Scanxiety, and it’s an unfortunate reality for hundreds of thousands of people moving through the NHS diagnostic pathway every year. And it is, in large part, a structural problem. One created by the current system, and which the current system must fix. 

The anxiety window 

Scanxiety exists not simply because people fear bad news. It exists because the diagnostic pathway - the referral, the scan, the reporting, the MDT review, the clinic appointment and communication - is fragmented and riddled with gaps.  

Each handover creates uncertainty, each delay lengthens it and every inconsistency in communication amplifies the issue of scanxiety further.  

As part of our research into the patient experience of diagnostic imaging, we brought together patients, care providers, clinicians, support group leaders and service managers to examine this issue directly. What we heard was striking in its consistency. 

One patient described having 20 scans in just over two years. Another recalled nine scans in twelve weeks during her staging period. For patients living with chronic disease, they end up living life, in their own words, from "one scan to the next." And the anxiety does not begin when the result arrives; it begins the moment the scan is booked. 

Many described the same visceral experience: "We dread the phone ringing." Others described the distress of hearing nothing for extended periods then receiving results through apps without explanation, or waiting weeks without update only to walk into clinic appointments and be asked: "So, what have you been told?" 

This is Scanxiety.  

It is a psychological and relational load that reshapes daily life for millions of NHS patients. But it’s not just confined to patients alone - clinicians feel it too. Radiologists returning from leave to face two weeks of cancer scans awaiting review; MDT meetings oversubscribed before they begin; the quiet, accumulated weight on an already stretched workforce knowing that behind every case there is someone at home, waiting for peace of mind. 

Not a people problem.  

The instinct, when confronted with diagnostic delay, is to assume that the workforce is the answer: more radiologists; more capacity; more resources; more scans.  

This is shortsighed. The UK already faces a 31% shortfall in consultant radiologists, projected to reach 40% by 2028, even as imaging demand continues to grow¹. Adding people to a system that does not make optimal use of human resources will not close that gap. What closes the gap is better systems and more refined orchestration. 

Diagnosis isn't delayed by lack of skill. It is delayed by fragmented workflows, invisible quality, reactive systems, and capacity measured in volume rather than outcomes. These are not clinical failures; they are flow failures. And flow failures are design problems, which means they have design solutions. 

"What we saw, working inside the NHS, was that the expertise was always there," says Dr Amy Davis, co-founder of Hexarad. "The radiologists are exceptional. What was missing was the system around them. The intelligence to route the right case to the right person, to see pressure building before it became a crisis, to make quality visible rather than assumed.”

Dr Farzana adds: “The NHS doesn't just need more capacity in radiology; it needs smarter and more intelligent systems. The right case reaching the right subspecialist, at the right time, with quality that's visible, measured, and continuously improved. And it's why Unlock Diagnosis isn't a staffing solution, but a systems solution.” 

Faster diagnosis. Better outcomes. By design. 

The Hexarad platform operates as a unified diagnostic layer, combining subspecialist teleradiology through ReportRad with operational intelligence through OptiRad. Every scan is routed to the right expert automatically, around the clock. Urgent cases are peer-reviewed within two hours. Quality is measured, tracked, and improved in real time. And departments gain the visibility they need to see what's coming before it arrives. 

The results are measurable. At Mid and South Essex, a 12% increase in reporting output led to an 18% reduction in local report turnaround times, while saving £150k annually on outsourcing. At University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) the administrative burden of rostering and job plan management fell by 75%, with 46 additional reporting hours generated per month - a reporting output equivalent to 7% of monthly outsourcing spend (a 3.3x ROI on the OptiRad subscription).

“I would say Optirad has delivered the high expectations we set,” said Anne-Marie Jenkins, Deputy Head of Imaging at UHD. “The detailed data insights that we can now access is just as we imagined. On-going developments will support in surpassing our original vision. But most important, we can use those insights to improve patient outcomes.” 

Because behind every one of those statistics is a patient. A family. A person who deserved an answer, and got one faster because the system worked as it should.  

Scanxiety is real - but also avoidable. 

We cannot eliminate waiting entirely or promise that every result will be straightforward, or that every pathway will be smooth. But we can minimise the uncertainty of waiting. We can increase transparency and help to close the gaps between steps where anxiety can grow to the point that it becomes overwhelming.  

Every scan is a patient. Every patient deserves a diagnosis they can trust, delivered when it counts. This is what Hexarad works to achieve.  

Jaymin Patel, Co-founder and COO of Hexarad, says: "Hexarad is a unified layer across the entire diagnostic pathway. Clinical excellence and system intelligence, working together. Aligning people, technology, and timing so every case reaches the right expert, without delay. 

"We alleviate capacity pressure before it becomes a crisis. We re-engineer the workflow so radiologists can do what they are trained to do. And we do it at a scale that moves the whole system; not just one department, one trust, one report. 

 "We built this from the inside. As radiologists who understood the problem because we'd lived it. Diagnosis doesn't need more resource thrown at it. It needs unlocking." 

Hexarad's Scanxiety report — Redesigning the Diagnostic Experience in the NHS — is available to download here. To learn more about Unlock Diagnosis, click here.  

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