CANCER patients are under increasing risk from gaps in the NHS workforce across Britain, the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has warned.

Such problems are creating a “postcode lottery” for patients, with smaller cancer centres more likely to report worries over staff shortages, the professional body said.

The RCR, in reports on staffing in radiology and oncology, urged the government to address the “ticking time bomb” of treatment delays. 

It predicted a 39 per cent shortfall in Britain’s number of radiologists and a 19 per cent shortfall in oncologists by 2029.

RCR president Dr Katharine Halliday said: “Patients are being failed by a chronic lack of radiologists and oncologists.”

The “outlook is bleak,” she added, as “we are doing all we can to boost productivity, but there’s a limit to how far we can go. The reality is we simply don’t have enough staff.

“Any credible plan to cut waiting lists relies on having the headcount to meet the demand we face today, let alone tomorrow.

“The longer we delay action, the worse it gets. The government must train up more radiologists and oncologists to defuse this ticking time bomb for cancer diagnosis and treatment.”

Workforce pressures have seen the average age of radiologists leaving the NHS workforce fall to just 50 from 55 in 2020, the RCR said.

The average age of a consultant clinical oncologist on leaving is now 54, down from 59 in 2022.

Seven in 10 heads of service at cancer centres said they were concerned about the impact that oncology workforce shortages had on patient safety, the oncology report warned.

One consultant clinical oncologist told the RCR: “Safe delivery of cancer treatment is becoming increasingly impossible.”

Another said: “Our waiting times for breast radiotherapy are now the worst I have ever known in 20 years.”

The radiology report highlights how that field's workforce grew by 4.7 per cent in 2024, but demand for CT and MRI imaging grew by 8 per cent.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government inherited a broken NHS, where too many cancer patients are waiting too long for treatment.”

Scotland’s Health Secretary Neil Gray said that tackling waiting times was a “top priority” for the Scottish government.