A worsening shortage of radiologists and cancer doctors is causing dangerous delays to diagnosis and treatment for patients across the UK, according to new Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) 2025 workforce data.
The RCR has warned that without action to boost the workforce, more patients will suffer as demand continues to rise. The latest reports from RCR give an authoritative picture of UK diagnostic and cancer services, based on responses from 100% of UK cancer centre and radiology department leaders.
Key findings include:
- 8 in 10 radiology leaders and half of cancer leaders say staff shortages are causing patients’ conditions to worsen
- Severe shortages of radiologists and cancer doctors are driving delays to diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other serious conditions
- Workforce shortages are worse in deprived and rural areas
- Recruitment freezes affecting radiology departments and cancer centres have doubled in a year
- The government must expand training, and end recruitment freezes to prevent delays worsening further
The reports reveal concerning new insights, including:
- Staff shortages harming patients, delaying cancer treatment, and hampering government ambitions to improve cancer care
- For the first time, 8 in 10 UK radiology leaders and half of cancer leaders say they have seen patients’ conditions worsen as a result of staff shortages.
- 9 in 10 cancer leaders have seen delays to patients starting radiotherapy or drug-based treatment including chemotherapy as a result of staff shortages.
Diagnostic wait and cancer treatment targets continue to be missed. NHS England data show that in 2025, nearly a million (940,900) scan results took longer than the target of a month. In 2025, only 69% of patients started cancer treatment within 62 days of a referral, against a target of 85%. Just 40% started radiotherapy within the same timeframe. Delayed diagnosis leads to delayed treatment and can worsen health outcomes – particularly for people with cancer, where every month’s delay to starting treatment can increase the risk of death by around 10%.
One cancer centre leader commented: “[Staff shortages are causing] delays in patients starting both chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.”
Another stated: “Workforce shortages in diagnostics especially radiology and pathology are critical and lengthening pathways which is leading to patient harm.”
A radiology clinical director further added: “Significant delays in [scan] acquisition and reporting of a wide range of patients have negatively impacted prognosis, potential treatment options and resulted in harm.”
RCR maintains that a longstanding failure to train up enough new doctors has led to chronic workforce shortages. The UK has 32% (over 2,300) fewer radiologists and 17% (over 230) fewer clinical oncologists than it needs just to meet current demand, it argues. These workforce shortfalls have risen since 2024, from 29% to 32% for radiologists and 15% to 17% for clinical oncologists. Demand for scans is also growing at more than twice the rate of radiologists to interpret them, and cancer incidence is rising. Meanwhile, nearly half (44%) of clinical oncologists and 2 in 5 (39%) radiologists are set to retire within 10 years.
For the first time, the RCR reports also reveal a stark geographic divide in staffing that is exacerbating existing inequalities. The shortage of clinical oncologists in deprived areas and rural communities is 2x higher than in less deprived communities and urban areas. This means that patients could face longer waits to get the cancer treatment they need. In some areas, patients may also need to travel further to access specialist treatment.
The RCR points out that the NHS is spending record sums on short-term fixes to fill workforce gaps while failing to address the root cause. In radiology, the UK spent a record £362 million in 2025 on outsourcing, paid overtime, and locums – enough to pay over 3,000 radiology consultant salaries, far more than the current shortage of 2,300. Outsourcing scans to be read by private companies accounted for £241 million of this cost; this expense is on track to rise to £454 million by 2030.
RCR says that the NHS must reduce reliance on outsourcing. 86% of radiology leaders are concerned about the quality of outsourced reports, and 90% are concerned they need double-checking, adding to their teams’ packed workloads and delaying patients’ scan results. Many radiology leaders are concerned this does not represent good value for money.
The RCR has outlined some key recommendations for government action. The government must:
- Invest in training more doctors by increasing the number of training places for clinical radiology and clinical oncology.
- Scrap recruitment freezes imposed on radiology departments and cancer centres.
- Maximise training capacity by allocating training places by whole-time equivalent (WTE) rather than by headcount.
Commenting on the findings, Dr. Stephen Harden, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, said: “For the first time, our census shows that patients’ conditions are deteriorating because of workforce shortages. Delays to diagnosis and cancer treatment are extremely dangerous, particularly in deprived and rural communities where shortages are worst.
“Despite our members’ extraordinary efforts, we simply don’t have enough clinical radiologists and clinical oncologists to meet rising demand. Recruitment freezes and growing reliance on outsourcing are making the situation worse not better.
“Alarm bells should be ringing for governments across the UK. Without urgent action to train, recruit and retain more doctors, more patients will suffer.”
View the reports at: https://www.rcr.ac.uk/news-policy/workforce-censuses/
