London, England– A coalition of stakeholders including leaders from patient groups, academia, government and the private sector have released a report that provides recommendations to the NHS that would improve and expand access to advanced radiotherapy services in the UK amidst calls for increased funding by the all party parliamentary group for radiotherapy.
The report builds upon a public petition led by the charity Action Radiotherapy. The petition asks to increase the NHS Cancer budget dedicated to radiotherapy from 5% to 6.5%, and a one-time £250 million investment to modernise existing machines and build satellite radiotherapy centres to ensure accessible service nationwide.
Currently, the NHS spends only 5 percent of its budget on radiotherapy services although around 50 percent of cancer patients will need radiotherapy as a part of their treatment.
The report outlines eight recommendations for maintaining high-quality,...