Cancer patients are being denied advanced radiotherapy because of “perverse” NHS tariffs that incentivise more time-consuming treatments, ministers have been told.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, are being urged to ensure “a significant proportion” of the new NHS backlogs funding package is ring-fenced for investment in radiotherapy.
A cross-party letter with more than 50 signatories has called for an end to tariffs that encourage trusts to use older treatments that ask patients to make scores of hospital visits, when it could be done with a handful of appointments with modern techniques.
“The cancer backlog is the deadliest and most time critical of all,” they write. “Radiotherapy is internationally recognised as the ‘primary’ Covid-safe treatment for cancer. It is ideally placed to help rapidly bring down waiting lists by substituting for surgery.” They ask ministers to “sweep aside” the “perverse” bureaucracy that means trusts are penalised financially if they use faster, more modern forms of radiotherapy.
Radiotherapy is commissioned under a tariff system which pays NHS trusts for every daily dose of radiotherapy. Plans to reform the system were put on hold during the pandemic and have not yet resumed.
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Leading oncologist Professor Pat Price, founder of the CatchUpWithCancer campaign, said; “We keep hearing that the prime minister wants to bust the backlog, but without ringfenced investment for cancer these words feel hollow. Radiotherapy is a key part of the solution. It would deal a massive dent to surgery waiting lists but has so far been overlooked, and it’s appalling that the bureaucracy preventing clinicians from using modern COVID-safe radiotherapy treatments is still in place.”
Private healthcare companies have reported a surge in demand from patients unable to access advanced radiotherapy techniques on the NHS.
GenesisCare said that it had seen a 532 per cent rise in overall referrals for radiotherapy since the start of the pandemic. Mike Moran, chief executive of Rutherford Health, which has a network of private cancer centres, said: “Throughout the pandemic we’ve seen an unprecedented increase in demand across our services.”
The Commons health and social care select committee heard last week from Dr Philippa Hetherington, who was forced to pay for private targeted radiation on the brain as the NHS would not fund the course she needed.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Most cancer services are operating at or above pre-pandemic levels. We have provided record investment to tackle the backlog.”
