Catch Up With Cancer: Where we go from 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.
We know that cancer does not wait. The decisions made now will determine outcomes for years to come. To translate ambition into real progress, the Government and all political parties must jointly commit to the 62‑day target, protect the funding required to deliver it and ensure that leadership sits with independent experts who understand the realities of modern cancer care and how to deliver it on the ground.
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.
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 is 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.
Timely treatment remains 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. Current performance 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.
Despite recognising these pressures, the Plan offers no realistic path to recovery. It contains no meaningful economic analysis of which interventions would deliver the greatest gains for patients, no prioritisation framework, and no clear assessment of value for money. In a fiscally constrained environment, this omission undermines the credibility of the whole strategy.
Radiotherapy illustrates this disconnect. It is essential in 40% of all cancer cures, needed in over 50% of patients, and is exceptionally cost‑effective, typically £3,000–£7,000 per course, yet receives only 7% of the total 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 Plan neither analyses its potential impact nor commits to addressing longstanding capacity issues.
Meanwhile, progress made by clinicians and NHS teams has been hindered by policy reversals. The removal of ring‑fenced funding for AI auto-contouring (a technology that can reduce planning times from hours to minutes) runs counter to the Plan’s stated intention to increase radiotherapy productivity.
The National Cancer Plan highlights the £70 million committed by this Government for 28 new LINAC machines in Autumn 2024. Whilst welcome, this does not go far enough. Analysis undertaken by Radiotherapy UK estimates that there are currently at least 22 machines operational past the 10-year recommended life span and by the end of 2026 that increases by an additional 27. The need for a rolling programme of machine replacement is clear.
Structural issues are also left untouched. Managing specialist services like radiotherapy through Integrated Care Boards has introduced inconsistency, diluted accountability and widened regional inequality. The Plan does not propose reforms to ensure equitable national oversight.
Most significantly, the near‑absence of workforce planning is a major flaw. Without clear commitments on recruitment, retention, training and career development, particularly for therapeutic radiographers, oncologists, healthcare science workforce and the wider cancer workforce—no plan can succeed. We look forward to the Workforce Plan, due later in the year, but this Plan should have established a stronger foundation for it.
What Must Happen Now
Parliament can act immediately. First, secure cross‑party agreement to protect cancer policy from political cycles. Second, recommit to the 62‑day target with enforceable delivery mechanisms and protected funding. Third, restore ring-fenced investment for radiotherapy productivity technologies such as AI auto-contouring. Fourth, restart and complete the LINAC replacement programme so every centre has safe, modern equipment. Fifth, establish national expert leadership in place of fragmented oversight via ICBs. Sixth, publish a detailed cancer workforce plan covering all specialist roles. Finally, rebalance policy and investment toward timely treatment, not only diagnostics, because speed to treatment is the strongest determinant of survival.
#CatchUpWithCancer
We remain committed to working constructively to make this Plan succeed. The 62‑day target is achievable. Better outcomes are achievable. But they depend on prioritisation, decisive implementation and a renewed focus on treatments, especially radiotherapy, that offer the quickest, most cost‑effective route to saving lives. We will continue to campaign, collaborate and hold decision‑makers to account until every patient receives the treatment they need, when they need it. This is Kelly’s legacy. Only then will we truly catch up with cancer.