The U.K. Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has declared that more radiologists and clinical oncologists will be needed to win the government's newly declared national war on cancer in England.
The RCR has welcomed the health and social care secretary's 4 February "declaration of war on cancer" and the new call for evidence to inform a 10-year Cancer Plan for England. However, RCR president Dr. Jeannette Dickson said in a statement that there's currently a shortfall of nearly 2,000 consultant radiologists, and a long-term plan is needed to address this problem.
Furthermore, too many imaging systems are out of date and disconnected from IT systems, which are themselves already a huge problem in the U.K. National Health Service (NHS), she said. Additionally, there is currently a nearly 20% shortfall of consultant oncologists that needs to be addressed.
"All these challenges need to be overcome if we're going to deal with the backlog and start to win the war on cancer, and we look forward to working with the Secretary of State to help tackle them," Dickson said.
