Clinical oncology ‘will be 20% short-staffed by 2022’

Cancer patients across the UK will suffer due to shortfalls in clinical oncology staff, experts have warned.

A report from the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) predicts that the number of clinical oncologists – medics who treat cancers with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy but not surgery – will fall short of what is needed by 2022.

The RCR estimates that, by 2022, the NHS will need a minimum of 1,102 full-time clinical oncology consultants to look after cancer patients, but has predicted that, based on current trends, there will only be 855.

Last year there were 817 whole-time equivalent consultant clinical oncologists working in UK hospitals. “Clinical oncologists are the UK’S experts trained in all non-surgical cancer treatments – and we do not have enough of them,” said Dr David Bloomfield, the RCR’S medical director of professional practice in clinical oncology and lead author of the workforce report.

“Projections show that, by 2022, the workforce will be more than 20 per cent short-staffed and it is cancer patients who will suffer, with less clinical oncologists’ time and care to go around.

“For treatment to keep up with cancer rates, we need more trainee clinical oncologists. To do that, government must fund more training places for UK hospitals.”