More than 2.8 million people in England - one in 20 of the nation's inhabitants - received an urgent referral to a cancer specialist from a GP in the past year, triple the number from 2010 and the highest on record.
The Royal College of Radiologists warns that without action from the government, the NHS"will have a 40% shortfall of radiologists by 2027 - up from 29% today. We will also face a 25% shortfall in clinical oncologists, up from 15% today." The largest trusts to pass were Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals, covering Surrey and south London, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation, in West Yorkshire, and Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation, in South Yorkshire.
The number of radiologists and oncologists has actually grown by more than 50% since 2010, and by a quarter in just the past five years, but the RCR say this is still not enough to keep up with demand. "All of this means demand is growing, and the oncology workforce needs to grow too if we want to give patients the care they deserve."
"The numbers of referrals for people for investigation of cancer have been going up 10% a year for the last decade. There was a very brief downturn in COVID, and then it's just picked up where it left off.