More than 60,000 cancer patients in England ‘not getting necessary radiotherapy’ | NHS

More than 60,000 cancer patients per year do not obtain the radiation therapy they need at all, while some patients in England are faced with expectations of up to six months to start treatment, depending on research.

The situation is so disastrous that nearly 100 radiotherapy and oncology leaders – three quarters of radiotherapy leaders in England – have warned in an open letter that the government fails to patients.

International experts agree that more than half (53%) of all cancer patients will generally need radiotherapy, but in England, only 35% receive it. According to an exclusive analysis of the latest NHS data by the Charity Radiotherapy UK, this means that 181,023 patients should have received radiotherapy, but only 120,569, leaving 60,455 Cancer patients for a year in England who do not get any treatment for radiotherapy cancer.

Regional inequalities are riveted. While 36% of patients in the southwest suffer radiotherapy, only 33.7% do in the Southeast, with more than 10,000 missing patients on vital treatment.

The main oncologist and president of radiotherapy in the United Kingdom, Professor Pat Price, said as a result: “Thousands of cancer patients are likely to die prematurely either because they do not undergo radiotherapy or due to enormous delays in the start of radiation therapy”.

“Radiotherapy is one of the most profitable and curative cancer treatments we have,” she said. “It is not a” nice to have “, it is a vital treatment. The government must urgently invest in more machines, more staff and expanding access to this vital treatment. Otherwise, the United Kingdom will remain stuck at the bottom of the Tables of the Cancer Survival League, and patients will die unnecessarily. ”

The results follow a study in 2024 of 780,000 people, comparing treatment for different eight cancers in each British nation, Norway, Australia and Canada. The international cancer cancer partnership revealed that residents of the United Kingdom were less often treated with radiotherapy and were faced with considerably longer treatments for treatments.

The latest NHS figures in England show that in July 2025, 61% of patients waited for more than two months to start treatment, including radiotherapy, and only 39% of patients in England began radiotherapy within 62 days of the reference, against the national target of 85%.

Some patients had to wait until months to start radiotherapy. Alison was 64 years old when she was diagnosed with stadium breast cancer. Faced with a 15 -week expectation in her southern coast hospital, Alison decided to save her savings and go privately. When she discovered that she should wait up to six months for radiotherapy, Alison decided to see if she could be seen more quickly elsewhere, because she could not afford private treatment. Her consultant referred it to the Christie Cancer Center in Manchester, where she received her radiotherapy at the end of June.

Although Aison cannot rent Christie enough for the care she has received, having to travel more than 200 miles for her treatment was a traumatic experience.

“You know, I have experienced a lot in my life, but the mental anxiety that I was put through cannot be overestimated,” she said. “Really, it’s horrible.

“I spent a week in Manchester to do radiotherapy every day. I had to ring the small bell for the end of my treatment with myself, more than 200 miles from my family. It’s bad. “

Staff shortages in addition to increasing demand fuel delays. According to the Royal College of Radiologists, in 2024, seven managers of the 10 in 10 cancer center said that the staff shortages endangered patient safety. Experts report that radiotherapy machines have remained inactive In a number of trusts, or unable to operate on weekends, because there are no staff to operate them. A head of radiotherapy of great confidence in eastern England said that “devastating reality” is that the workforce is in Breaking Point.

“After 35 years in the radiotherapy profession, I can say with certainty that the situation we are facing today is the worst that I have ever seen. Across the country, radiotherapy treatment machines are inactive. Not just because of technical defects, but because there are simply not enough staff to manage them, “they said.

The crisis is so acute that 91 radiotherapy chiefs working in centers across England wrote to the Secretary of Health, Wes Street, calling on the government to prioritize investment in radiotherapy or risk the next cancer plan that fails.

“Radiotherapy has been retained by a historical underinvestment and a systemic by-print,” says the letter. “Consequently, radiotherapy is often excluded from major political conversations and suffers from obsolete equipment, slow adoption of technology, shortages of chronic labor and striking regional inequality.

“If we do not manage to finance and deliver on radiotherapy, [the promise of the government’s cancer plan] will be broken before he even begins. »»

Mark Lawler, digital health professor at Queen’s Belfast University and President of the International Cancer Partnership, said: “We are worldwide latecomers for access and speed of radiotherapy, behind Denmark, France, and for lung cancer, even Labrador and Newfoundland. I didn’t think I got to say. “

Dr. Stephen Harden, president of the Royal College of Radiologists, said most patients were facing “agonizing radiotherapy delays”.

“In the middle of the arrow of care against cancer, staff shortages and patient delays will only get worse if nothing is done to increase the workforce. Although the government has invested in new LINAC radiotherapy machines, staff shortages in certain cancer centers mean that they cannot offer treatment in the evening and on weekends. ”

The Ministry of Health and Social Coins has been approached for comments.