The Royal College of Radiologists found half the UK’s 60 specialist cancer treatment centres could not hire clinical oncologists last year. ose Luis Pelaez Inc/Getty ImagesThe Royal College of Radiologists found half the UK’s 60 specialist cancer treatment centres could not hire clinical oncologists last year. ose Luis Pelaez Inc/Getty ImagesNHS hiring bans in cancer units shortsighted and dangerous, doctors warnExclusive: RCR says recruitment freezes in treatment centres doubled in 2025 and could undermine government’s care plansHospitals have banned units which diagnose and treat cancer from hiring doctors as part of an NHS cost-cutting drive, despite the growing demand for care. Exactly half of the UK’s 60 specialist cancer treatment centres had a freeze on recruiting clinical oncologists imposed on them during 2025, more than double the 13 (23%) seen the year before. Similarly, more than a third (36%) of the 160 radiology departments – which perform and analyse scans – were subjected last year to a ban on hiring clinical radiologists, up from 19% in 2024, according to information supplied by 138 of the UK’s 160 such units. The Royal College of Radiologists, which collected the figures, warned that the dramatic rise in staffing freezes could lead to “dangerous” delays in cancers being spotted and treated. Dr Stephen Harden, the RCR’s president, criticised the bans as “shortsighted”, bad for patients, damaging to NHS personnel’s morale and likely to cost more money in the long term. He added that refusing to let cancer centres and radiology departments hire doctors when they need them could directly affect cancer patients’ treatment and have “tragic consequences”. Harden said: “Recruitment freezes worsen the already chronic shortage of doctors that has led to long waits, late diagnoses and delays, causing patients to have more limited treatment options, and some presenting too late to receive treatment at all.“Any delay can be distressing.
