AN award given to a radiographer who worked in a hospital department - which later turned out to have delayed the reporting of 35,000 scans and X-rays - has prompted anger from campaigners.

David Hill was chosen to receive the award for 'Midlands radiographer of the year' by the Society of Radiographers.

However, a campaigner has come forward to say the award has made some 'uncomfortable' because Mr Hill was the chief radiographer at the trust when questions were first raised about a backlog of 11,000 vital x-rays which had not been fully assessed or written up.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection later found that the backlog was closer to 35,000 and dated back to 2013.

The 2016 report from the CQC's inspection of Worcestershire Royal Hospital said: "Reports for patients referred into the departments for urgent images were not always prioritised, meaning there was a significant delay with some reports taking up to 21 days from when the image was taken before they were reported to GP referrers."

Concern about the award was raised by Nigel Gilbert, chair of the group Betrayed by their trusts (BBTT), who highlighted Mr Hill's presence in the radiography department at Worcestershire Royal Hospital at the time it was being investigated by the CQC and the shortcomings were revealed.

He said he viewed the Society of Radiographers making the award as "intended to make fools of the Worcestershire public."

A Freedom of information request sent to the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust revealed that four patients suffered 'moderate harm' due to the backlogging of the x-rays and scans.

One of these resulted in a "six week delay in identifying metastasis in lung, delay in diagnosis therefore defined as moderate harm."

However, campaigners say they want to see evidence that a proper study of the thousands of cases involved in the backlog has been made.

The Worcester News approached the Society of Radiographers but no-one was available to comment.

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospital NHS Trust said: “We are delighted that David Hill has received this award.

"We have made huge progress in reducing waiting times for vital test results and cleared a major backlog in x-rays – with much of this work being led by David.

“This work enabled the Care Quality Commission to lift an improvement notice in May of this year, as well as improve our ratings for diagnostic imaging services in their latest inspection. This was an acknowledgement that our processes are robust and effective.

“Our work to improve reporting x-ray test results has prompted a number of other NHS Trusts facing similar challenges to contact us for advice on how to tackle the issue.”