Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is a key treatment for many people affected by cancer. It can be used to try to cure cancer completely, it can make other treatments more effective, it can reduce the risk of cancer coming back post-surgery, and it can relieve symptoms in palliative care.

Unfortunately, radiotherapy services are under significant pressure. Earlier this year, the length of time cancer patients waited for treatment reached record highs. The proportion of people in England having their first cancer treatment within two months of an urgent GP referral has been below 85% since 2013-14. This requires urgent attention from the Government.

We should always embrace new technology that has the potential to transform the way we deliver care. I want the Government to harness the power of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform the speed and accuracy of diagnostic services, saving potentially thousands of lives.

I will support the Government as it delivers on its commitment to get the NHS back on its feet, so it is fit for the future. This will involve an extra two million NHS operations, scans and appointments every year, delivered by incentivising staff to carry out additional appointments out of hours.

The Government has already commissioned an independent investigation into the state of the NHS, which will conclude in September. I hope this will provide a raw and honest assessment of the issues facing our health service, which can feed into plans to reform the NHS.

Through reforms, we must shift away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to a model where more services are delivered in local communities. I support a renewed drive to tackle the biggest killers, so we can cut the number of lives lost to cancer.