Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to increase radiotherapy capacity in the NHS.

Since 2016, over £160 million has been invested in radiotherapy equipment, which has replaced or upgraded approximately 100 radiotherapy treatment machines. In 2019/20, 11 radiotherapy networks were established in England to increase access to specialist skills and improve patient outcomes.

In 2022/23, NHS England will complete a capacity and demand review of external beam radiotherapy capacity. This will support local systems to plan radiotherapy provision and allocate system capital allocations appropriately, based on an assessment of equipment age, capacity and demand, opportunities to improve access and service risk.