Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has in place to ensure that every cancer patient who would benefit from radiotherapy is able to access that treatment.

The NHS Long Term Plan reaffirmed the commitment to modernise radiotherapy, as well as making specific commitments to commission the National Health Service new state-of-the-art Proton Beam facilities in London and Manchester. The plan also committed to reforming the specialised commissioning payments for radiotherapy hypofractionation to support further equipment upgrades.

The Long Term Plan also set out NHS England’s commitment to review the National Tariff, in particular to ensure that appropriate incentives are in place to encourage providers to deliver modern techniques, including hypofractionation, and to upgrade and replace equipment.

Over the last two years, £130 million has been invested in modernising radiotherapy equipment, with over 80 machines funded for replacement or upgrade across the country since October 2016.