Cancer patients not getting right treatment, say doctors

Senior doctors responsible for monitoring cancer care in England and Wales are concerned failings in NHS services are contributing to up to half of patients not getting the right treatment for some cancers.

In evidence provided to the BBC, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NatCan), external highlighted particular problems with prostate, kidney and colon cancers.

The expert group said it had found significant variation between hospitals and warned the problems accessing nationally-recommended treatments were putting lives at risk.

It carries out audits across nine major cancers - responsible for 80% of cases - and has found shortfalls across a range of different cancer types and stages.

Figures shared with the BBC show:

• 30% of patients with high-risk prostate cancer do not get curative treatment with either surgery or radiotherapy, with performance varying between 20% and 43% across different services.
• 34% of stage three colon cancer cases do not get chemotherapy within three months of surgery – at some hospitals the numbers exceed 60%.
• 50% of stage four renal cell carcinoma patients, a type of kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, do not get drug treatment – with performance varying between 20% and 85%.

NatCan said while a minority of patients would be choosing not to have treatment themselves and others may not be well enough, that could not fully explain the scale of the shortfall or variation between hospitals.

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Source: BBC News, 19 February 2025