"NRAG will go public", says health minister
 Despite a recent article in the The Times suggesting that the Government will not publish findings exposing delays in cancer care, the Society's chief executive and president attended a meeting at the Department of Health recently during the course of which minister for state, Rosie Winterton, assured them that publication would take place in the near future and certainly in time for the meeting of the Workforce Review Team for Radiotherapy in late May.
In the newspaper article, Nigel Hawkes cites the latest National Radiotherapy Advisory Group report, saying patients are being 'put at risk by delays in cancer care'.
He writes: “More than half of all cancer patients needing lifesaving radiotherapy are waiting longer than the Government's 'maximum acceptable delay' for treatment.
“The paper shows huge variations in the delivery of treatments around the country with many 'black holes' where services are extremely poor.”
SoR professional officer, Charlotte Beardmore, represents the Society on the NRAG committee. She said: “The NRAG report has some key messages for the Government and although it remains confidential at the moment, we welcome its publication as soon as possible.
“The RCR report, which fed into NRAG's study, clearly demonstrates the lack of capacity in radiotherapy services. We hope this evidence will lead to huge investment from the Government into equipment and the workforce. The bottom line is we must increase capacity for patients.”
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