Invest urgently in the NHS cancer workforce in the autumn Spending Review
This petition gathered 56,836 signatures between 13 September 2021 and 13 March 2022, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 19 October 2021.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Invest urgently in the NHS cancer workforce in the autumn Spending Review
Covid-19 exposed the terrible strain the NHS cancer workforce has been under for years. This is now the greatest threat facing the NHS. We are calling for the Government to use the Spending Review to fund the additional provision of NHS staff to diagnose, treat and care for cancer patients.
We can’t ignore this any longer. Unless the Government acts now to tackle the shortages in the cancer care workforce, this crisis is set to get worse. The Government must put forward a fully funded plan to increase the number of staff and train the future cancer workforce.
This call is supported by Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK, Breast Cancer Now, Anthony Nolan, Blood Cancer UK, Bowel Cancer UK, Brain Tumour Research, Teenage Cancer Trust, Young Lives vs Cancer, Target Ovarian Cancer, Cancer52, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Sarcoma UK, Leukaemia Care, Prostate Cancer UK, Action Radiotherapy, Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 19 October 2021; the petitions site lists the Department of Health and Social Care as responsible. Its summary:
Cancer diagnosis and treatment has remained a priority throughout the pandemic. Funding for the NHS workforce will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review.
The opening 369 words of the 657-word response:
Cancer diagnosis and treatment has remained a top priority throughout the pandemic, with 3.3 million urgent referrals and over 810,000 people receiving cancer treatment between March 2020 and August 2021. Thanks to the brilliant work of NHS staff we maintained cancer treatment at 104% of pre-pandemic levels in August 2021. Cancer referrals in July and August 2021 remained high at over 10,000 per working day.
The NHS are focusing on recovery from the pandemic by March 2022. The “Help Us to Help You” campaign encourages people with symptoms to come forward. Cancer referrals in April and May 2021 were at an all-time high. An additional £1bn funding has been made available to the NHS in 2021/22 to support the start of this recovery of elective activity, including the recovery of cancer services.
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out key ambitions to improve cancer survival and outcomes. The Cancer Workforce Plan Phase 1, (https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Cancer%20Workforce%20Plan%20phase%201%20progress%20update%20FINAL.pdf) developed by Health Education England (HEE) with partners, was published in December 2017. This committed to the expansion of capacity and skills by 2021, including an ambition to grow the cancer workforce across identified key professions by 1500 FTE by 2021. This also includes:
• training an additional 200 clinical endoscopists by 2021 (in addition to the 200 trained by 2018);
• 300 additional radiographers trained in image interpretation and reporting;
• An ambition to increase improved working practices, attracting qualified people back to the NHS through domestic and international recruitment;
• more clinical radiologists, histopathologists, oncologists and radiographers; and
• development/training for new and aspiring Cancer Nurse Specialists and development of common and consistent competencies for this role with a clear route into training.
HEE published a Cancer Workforce Plan phase 1 progress update in 2019 (https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Cancer%20Workforce%20Plan%20phase%201%20progress%20update%20FINAL.pdf).
Spending Review 2020 provided £260 million to continue to grow our NHS workforce and support commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan. This built on funding previously confirmed at Budget 20 to deliver 50,000 more nurses by the end of the parliament and to create an additional 50 million appointments in general practice a year.
The £260 million included £52m in 2021/22 for HEE to further invest in the cancer and diagnostics workforce including funding to:
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions.json?state=with_response&page=10UK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
fc759228ae5661fa… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
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