Our policy on radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is cutting-edge, curative and cost-effective. We want every person having radiotherapy to have high-quality, modern radiotherapy, and for there to be equitable access to the most innovative types of treatments across the UK.

In 2012-13 we helped the Government distribute £23 million to improve the service across England through the Radiotherapy Innovation Fund (RIF). The Government has since announced further investments in the service. More recently, we have established CRUK RadNet, a new network of radiotherapy research across seven specialist institutes across the UK, supported by a £56 million investment by CRUK. Further to this we published the joint Vision for Radiotherapy 2014-24 with NHS England, setting out what we believe the service should be providing for patients within the next 10 years.

There have been significant radiotherapy innovations over the past few years, including proton beam therapy, the expansion of SABR into new indications, and wider use of hypofractionation which delivers radiotherapy in shorter courses.  Being able to access innovative radiotherapy is hugely important to patients, with patients and carers ranking this as the second most important aspect of radiotherapy treatment in a recent CRUK survey. However, variation in access is still a concern.

The radiotherapy dataset (RTDS) held by NHS Digital has seen huge improvements over the last decade which has enabled CRUK and other stakeholders to carry out much more complete analysis of patient access and outcomes. However, improving cancer data capture and access should be made an ongoing priority for NHS England and NHS Digital as this would help improve identification and understanding of variation in access further.

Amidst wider NHS staff shortages, there are significant shortages of the specialist staff who give radiotherapy treatments. Based on Health Education England’s (HEE) 2018 estimate, the NHS in England will require an aggregate growth of 45% in its cancer workforce by 2029 to deliver worldclass cancer services. In comparison, the therapeutic radiotherapy workforce grew by 28% between 2012 and 2021. Further, in 2021, a Radiotherapy UK survey found that 79% of respondents from the wider radiotherapy workforce across the UK said the pressure of the pandemic or the recovery has caused themselves or colleagues to consider leaving the radiotherapy profession.

There are still challenges to overcome if the UK is to have a truly world-class radiotherapy service. Cancer Research UK is actively working with Government and health departments, members of the radiotherapy service and patients to make this a reality.

Policy position statement on the future of radiotherapy services in England (May 2023)

CRUK briefing on radiotherapy for parliamentary debate (July 2019)

Policy Briefing on the Future of Proton Beam Therapy in the UK (June 2019)

Response to the APPG on Radiotherapy’s Inquiry (June 2019)

Letter to NHS England regarding radiotherapy in the long-term plan (November 2018)

Cancer Research UK position on NHS England’s radiotherapy modernisation programme (August 2018)

Response to NHS England’s consultation on modernising radiotherapy services (January 2018)

Vision for Radiotherapy 2014-24

Cancer Research UK principles for supporting radiotherapy research in England (January 2016)