Radiotherapy is effective and cost efficient. Why are so many cancer patients going without?

iStock.com/Mark Kostich

By Emma Wilkinson

Heads of radiotherapy departments have issued a mass plea to prioritise the treatment in the new cancer plan as more patients are missing out due to 'hidden rationing', outdated safety perceptions and lack of funding.

When Dr Ashleigh Williams was diagnosed with stage three inflammatory breast cancer, she received chemotherapy relatively quickly followed by surgery. Then, she had to wait. It was an agonising nine weeks until she had radiotherapy, despite international guidelines that recommend it be given from four weeks after surgery.