The crisis in NHS cancer care is at a “watershed moment” and must be tackled with the same urgency as the search for a Covid vaccine, experts have said.
Writing in the Lancet Oncology journal, clinicians from Imperial College London, the Institute of Cancer Policy at King’s College, Radiotherapy UK, and Check4Cancer said delays to treating cancer patients must be tackled now, adding: “The UK public and the NHS should not tolerate the normalisation of delayed cancer care.”
The team pointed to a “survival gap” compared with many other countries, adding: “Although all NHS backlogs are important, the cancer backlog is the most time-sensitive and the most deadly. The NHS and frontline staff need the same urgency and leadership, combined with the authority to work through obstructive bureaucracy, that was given to the Covid-19 Vaccine Taskforce.”
