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7 hours ago
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Dozens of NHS hospitals have banned their cancer or diagnostic units from hiring new staff, despite GPs referring growing numbers of people who they fear may have the disease.
Doctors warned that widespread recruitment freezes imposed on both types of units over the last year risked undermining Keir Starmer’s drive, outlined this week, to cut waiting times for NHS care.
Research by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) found that 42 NHS trusts or health boards across the UK told their cancer centre or diagnostic unit not to take on extra staff during 2024. Financial problems in the NHS appear to explain what it called “shortsighted” freezes.
Both types of services are already struggling to cope with the ever-rising demand for diagnostic tests and cancer care being created by Britain’s increasingly aged and sick population, which is forcing patients to wait for X-rays and scans before they can start treatment.
“Imposing hiring freezes in cancer and diagnostic departments is an extraordinarily shortsighted decision,” said Dr Katharine Halliday, the college’s president. “These departments are already grappling with understaffing and overwhelming workloads.
“Freezing hiring will only exacerbate delays in patient diagnosis and treatment, while further eroding the morale of hard-working NHS staff.”
Such bans “undermine critical efforts to reduce delays for patients and improve early cancer diagnosis”, she added.
The prime minister will not be able to fulfil the pledge he made on Monday, that 92% of patients needing hospital care will get it within 18 weeks by spring 2029, if units that undertake such vital work continue to be barred from hiring new staff they need, Halliday warned.
“The prime minister is right to focus on cutting NHS backlogs,” she said. “But it just isn’t realistic if we don’t have the workforce in place. And hiring freezes directly contradict the bold ambitions the government has set.”
The RCR’s annual census of cancer and diagnostic services across the UK found that:
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13 of 54 cancer centres (24.1%) had a recruitment freeze imposed on them last year, along with 29 out of 150 (19.3%) radiology departments.
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The 42 hiring bans were imposed by 40 different NHS trusts or boards.
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At least one freeze was implemented in each of the four home nations and each region of England.
One head of a cancer service told the RCR that surging demand for improved chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, coupled with workforce shortages and inadequate funding, “means [cancer] clinics are becoming increasingly overbooked”.
Samantha Harrison, head of strategic evidence at Cancer Research UK, said: “Despite the best efforts of NHS staff, cancer patients are waiting too long for vital tests and treatment. Cancer services have lacked the resources they need for years, and this report highlights the real-world impact this has on people affected by cancer.”
She said the government’s forthcoming new cancer plan for England must “deliver substantial reform and critical investments in staff and equipment. Without this, the cancer workforce will continue to struggle and cancer patients will not receive the timely care that they deserve.”
An NHS England spokesperson said: “We have developed a number of initiatives to improve access to cancer diagnostic services for patients to help catch more cancers early.
“Early diagnosis is incredibly important in cancer treatment and more cancers than ever before are being detected early. This is thanks to a major drive by the NHS over the last two years to encourage millions of people to come forward for potentially life-saving checks.”
