#CatchUpWithCancer: Beyond the National Cancer Plan
This started with tragedy. The award winning #CatchUpWithCancer campaign was founded by Craig and Mandy Russell, alongside Radiotherapy UK, after they lost their daughter Kelly, 31, to bowel cancer. Kelly didn’t get the treatment she needed. That injustice inspired the campaign and continues to do so.
The National Cancer Plan
The Government’s commitment to meet all cancer targets by 2029 is welcome, and the ambition within the National Cancer Plan is sincere. The ideas are broadly right. But ideas alone will not save lives.
What’s missing is a credible, evidence‑based implementation programme shaped by the people who deliver cancer care every day. Without this, the Plan risks becoming another document of good intentions rather than the turning point patients urgently need.
The problem we can’t ignore
Timely treatment is one of the strongest determinants of survival. Research shows a four‑week delay can increase the risk of death by around 10%. Yet England has not met its core cancer treatment targets since 2015, and thousands of patients will have been harmed as a result.
Performance today is deeply worrying. In December 2025, only 71.9% of patients started treatment within 62 days—far below the 85% standard. Radiotherapy waits are even more alarming, with just 40.2% of patients treated within target.
Radiotherapy: the fastest win we’re not taking
Radiotherapy is central to cancer survival—vital in roughly 40% of cures and needed by around half of patients. It’s also exceptional value for money, typically £3,000–£7,000 per course, yet it receives only about 7% of the cancer budget. Access in England remains far below international benchmarks.
Increasing radiotherapy provision is one of the fastest, most reliable and affordable ways to improve survival and meet the 62‑day target. But the current Plan neither analyses its potential impact nor commits to fixing longstanding capacity issues.
Poor Decisions have worsened the situation
Frontline teams have driven improvement despite mounting pressure—but policy decisions have pulled in the opposite direction:
AI auto-contouring funding removed—even though it can cut planning times from hours to minutes and lift productivity.
LINAC replacement stalled—leaving dozens of ageing machines beyond recommended lifespan and increasing risk year by year.
The Plan does not acknowledge or resolve these setbacks. That has to change.
What must happen now
We are calling on the government to implement the following;
- Secure cross‑party agreement to protect cancer policy from political cycles.
- Recommit to the 62‑day target with enforceable delivery mechanisms and protected funding.
- Restore ring‑fenced investment for productivity‑boosting radiotherapy technologies such as AI auto contouring.
- Restart and complete the LINAC replacement programme so every centre has safe, modern equipment.
- Establish national expert leadership, not fragmented oversight via ICBs.
- Publish a detailed cancer workforce plan covering all specialist roles.
- Prioritise treatment as well as diagnostics, because speed to treatment is the biggest determinant of survival.
The Government have said that they will hit their target of 85% of patients having their first treatment within 62-days of diagnosis by March 2029. You can see how they are doing on our live dashboard and how you can help us campaign for improvement by emailing your MP using the button at the bottom of the dashboard.
We’ll continue to campaign, collaborate and hold decision makers to account until every patient receives the treatment they need, when they need it. Only then will we truly catch up with cancer.