The Radiotherapy Board has welcomed a joint report by NHS England and Cancer Research UK.

‘A Vision for Radiotherapy 2014-2024’ is a strategic outline of how future radiotherapy services might be best configured and delivered.

The Board, which was established by the Society and College of Radiographers, the Royal College of Radiologists and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, looks forward to working to turn the report’s aspirations into reality.

The Board’s response says: “The report provides both an opportunity and a framework to support the development of radiotherapy services enabling evidence-based treatments to be delivered to patients in a timely manner and using modern, advanced radiotherapy techniques.”

Commenting on the report’s publication, Dr Diana Tait, Chair of the Radiotherapy Board and Vice-President, Clinical Oncology, RCR and consultant clinical oncologist said: “The Radiotherapy Board welcomes this vision document with its aspirations for investment in state of the art radiotherapy equipment, reduced maintenance costs and down-time.

“However, we strongly believe that the proposed rationalisation, standardisation and development of NHS radiotherapy services can only be achieved with the necessary investment in a skilled workforce.

“Therapeutic radiographers, clinical oncologists and medical physicists already work closely together in a clinical setting. The workforce in all three professional groups needs to grow to deliver the Vision for Radiotherapy. The value of this integrated model of working can already be seen in better patient outcomes”

SCoR Professional and Education Manager Charlotte Beardmore commented: “It is really positive that the report sets out a 10 year strategy that will carry on the work started by NRAG and NRIG. It shows a continuing commitment to the drive to deliver the highest quality radiotherapy treatment to all patients.

“This vision puts a national focus on radiotherapy development and innovation, and therapeutic radiographers have an important role to play. As a professional body, the SCoR will continue to work with its partners in the Radiotherapy Board to drive innovation and service improvement.

“As professionals, therapeutic radiographers must continue to work with their clinical oncology and physics colleagues to develop their services and ensure they are delivering high quality patient care.”

Click here to read ‘A Vision for Radiotherapy 2014-2024’

Click here to download the Radiotherapy Board’s response.

Anticipating the release of the report, the Sunday Times printed an article which criticises the Government for breaking David Cameron’s pledge that all cancer patients would have access to advanced radiotherapy techniques by April 2013.

The article suggests that the lack of radiotherapy provision has contributed to lower Cancer survival rates in Britain and highlights some cases where patients who have been refused funding for advanced radiotherapy techniques have died.

It goes on to suggest that the Government is wrongly ploughing funds into chemotherapy which would be more effective if invested in increasing radiotherapy provision.

It says: “The radiotherapy budget is about £350m a year, compared with a cancer drug budget of about £2bn. Forty per cent of major cancers are cured by radiotherapy and just 11% by chemotherapy.”

The Radiotherapy Board has responded to the article. Their letter, which was sent directly to the Sunday Times and added to the comments section of the article, praises the work which the radiotherapy community has already done to meet David Cameron’s target but emphasises the need for more investment.

It adds: “The timeframe of less than six months was challenging. In that time the needs of each of the 50 radiotherapy centres had to be assessed, the necessary facilities purchased, the appropriate workforce trained, and the services to be in effective clinical use.

“This was a complex programme and for anyone with experience of introducing change into a stretched healthcare system, it could be judged as phenomenally successful. The fact that the targets were not fully met for another six months is hardly surprising and should not be seen as a failure of this initiative.”

The letter welcomes the ‘Vision for Radiotherapy’ report as an opportunity to address what still needs to be done and states the three organisations that form the Radiotherapy Board are ready to work with all stakeholders to make the vision a reality.

It concludes by calling for a examination of the way funding is allocated. It says: “There needs to be a major look at cancer services funding with such a disparity between the annual funding for radiotherapy (£350 million) and the cancer drugs fund (more than £2 billion) and the reasons justifying this enormous differential.

“As clinical oncologists deliver both chemotherapy and radiotherapy to cancer patients, this is not about professional competition between two non-surgical cancer treatments. It is a call for a realistic examination of the way precious NHS resources are allocated.”

Click here to read the Radiotherapy Board’s letter to the Sunday Times.

Although the letter did appear in the Sunday Times (9 March) it was edited down to just two short paragraphs.