Service improvement in radiotherapy

Evaluating and supporting a service improvement in radiotherapy – expansion of the national screening programme

Published on December 1, 2024

Why I chose this topic: Cancer Research UK has reported that five- and 10-year survival of prostate cancer is strongly associated with the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in the population, and yet a PSA screening programme has not been implemented, contributing to more than 10,000 'incurable' diagnoses annually. The inequity of superior accuracy testing only being available to those able to pay for it privately must also be acknowledged. My own father had a more invasive test after elevated PSA results. Thankfully, this revealed no sign of disease, which is one of the arguments against PSA screening. Had he been able to access more specific testing, he could have been spared the distress of the procedure.

The NHS Long Term Plan1established two key ambitions: that 75% of cancer cases will be diagnosed at stage one or two by 2028, and that...

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