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<p>According to the latest data, of those 10,328 cancer patients referred for first
or subsequent treatment for radiotherapy in March 2024, 89.7% were treated within
31 days. Since 2016, there has been significant investment in radiotherapy equipment,
so that every radiotherapy provider had access to modern, cutting-edge radiotherapy
equipment, enabling the rollout of new techniques like stereotactic ablative radiotherapy.
The total central investment made between 2016 and 2021 was £162 million, and enabled
the replacement or upgrade of approximately 100 radiotherapy treatment machines. This
is investment on top of that committed by National Health Service trusts, either from
their own capital budgets or via donations.</p><p>From April 2022, the responsibility
for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems. As outlined in
the 2024/25 NHS Planning Guidance, NHS England is providing over £266 million in cancer
service development funding to Cancer Alliances, to support delivery of the operational
priorities for cancer. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside
£12 billion in operational capital for the NHS.</p><p>The Department is working closely
with NHS England to make sure we have the right workforce with the right skills up
and down the country. We are building our cancer workforce. In January 2024 there
were over 35,200 full-time equivalent staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of
over 13,300, or 60.7% since January 2010.</p>
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