Clinics facing ban on £1,000 CT scans for 'worried well'

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The Government is consulting experts this week over plans to outlaw the diagnostic tests for cancers and heart disease, which some clinics sell for up to £1,000 per scan.

It comes after a report found computerised tomography scans could expose patients to a radiation dose up to 200 times that of an ordinary chest X-ray.

Dr Roy Hamlet of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment, which compiled the report, said many patients with no symptoms paid to have CT scanswhich could put their life in danger.

He said: "There is no benefit, for example, in a lung scan. Everyone has bits that flap about and they may well be seen on a scan. Then what do you do? Ask them to open you up to see if it is a life-threatening tumour? That in itself is an extremely dangerous operation."

A DoH spokesman said: "CT scans involve a significant dose of radiation. Comare strongly recommends that services offering whole-body and lung CT scanning of healthy individuals should no longer be allowed. We are now consulting on this."

Dr John Giles, clinical director of CT scan company LifeScan, insisted the procedure was safe.