Radiotherapy road map to improved cancer treatment plan

Summary

That this House welcomes the National Cancer Plan's commitment to restore the three cancer waiting time standards by March 2029 and end the postcode lottery in cancer treatment; notes with regret that the Plan sets no radiotherapy trajectory, milestone or accountable body to deliver that ambition; further notes that NHS data shows performance against the 62-day referral-to-treatment standard is lowest for radiotherapy of the three main modalities, and that improving it requires clinical expertise from across the country; also notes that commissioning now rests with Integrated Care Boards, that Freedom of Information requests in 2023 found around 70 per cent had no named radiotherapy lead, and that most contain only one or two centres, leaving a highly specialised, capital-intensive service without the scale, data or expertise it requires; observes that this fragmentation delays innovation, as shown by artificial intelligence auto-contouring funding not taken forward and by prostate stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, commissioned only in 2026 despite 2023 evidence, and that adaptive, molecular and other advanced radiotherapy risk the same fate; recalls that the original National Radiotherapy Advisory Group oversaw the national rollout of intensity-modulated radiotherapy and contributed to an estimated 2,500 lives saved a year, equivalent to 3,000 today; and calls on the Government to establish an independent, clinician-led National Radiotherapy Advisory Group and implementation group, including patient representation, empowered to set a national framework against which each Board publishes a radiotherapy action plan, and to place accountability for radiotherapy standards on a statutory footing through the NHS Modernisation Bill.

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