NHS to cut increased cancer testing so it can fund pay rises
The NHS is to scale back plans for increased cancer testing in order to fund staff pay rises, with Britain’s leading expert warning that more cases could be missed.
Prof Sir Mike Richards said the plans – which will see money earmarked for cancer diagnostics diverted to cover pay increases – could damage services that were already “woefully” under-funded.
Writing for The Telegraph, the head of the UK national screening committee said it was right that NHS staff should be properly rewarded but funding for diagnostic capacity “must not be compromised” as a result.
Last week’s pay award of up to nine per cent comes as the health service battles record backlogs.
The Telegraph can reveal that the number of patients waiting at least two months for cancer treatment, despite being given an urgent referral, has doubled since the start of the pandemic.
Almost 27,000 patients with suspected cancer faced such waits by the end of May – up from around 13,000 in February 2020.
Amanda Pritchard, the head of the NHS, wrote to hospital bosses this week warning that almost nine in 10 of those enduring such delays were waiting for diagnostic tests.
Official figures show a record 157,317 people facing waits of at least 13 weeks for tests – up from 6,371 before the pandemic and a 25-fold rise.
The NHS has drawn up plans for an expansion in testing as part of efforts to tackle Britain’s poor survival outcomes and catch up with Covid backlogs.
But NHS England has said last week’s pay rise means it will have to scale back the plans, “regrettably impacting on the planned rollout of tech and diagnostic capacity across the health service”.
The action is being taken after the Treasury refused to fund NHS pay rises higher than three per cent, saying the money would have to come out of existing health budgets.
Health leaders say cuts of £1.8 billion may have to be found, just months after the Government raised National Insurance by 1.25 percentage points in order to fund health and social care.
It follows warnings from health officials that every extra one per cent on staff pay means half a million fewer operations.