Cancer innovation is saving lives – but NHS is struggling to meet rising demands
“The moment you have it yourself you hear it everywhere, but for something so prevalent it’s not talked about at all,” says Patrick Keane. His right arm is plugged into a tube that runs up to a bag of clear liquid in a treatment room at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, one of the UK’s largest cancer treatment centres.
The 56-year-old’s future is dependent on the slow drip of chemicals that attack the cancer cells in his body. If the tumour in his bowel can be reduced by chemotherapy, it can then be more easily surgically removed.
Returning to duties last week after his own diagnosis, the King chose to highlight innovations in cancer research and the thousands who like him are living under the shadow of the disease.
Patrick is one. Indeed, he got his cancer diagnosis in late January, around the same time as the King, and he is taking part in an innovative clinical trial that may help future patients.
Patrick Keane is taking part in an innovative clinical trial that may help future patients
In this election year, charities are calling on political parties to produce long-term plans for tackling the disease as part of their manifesto pledges. While innovation is saving lives, there is a looming budget shortfall.
Cancer Research UK, to whom the King became patron last week, estimates there will be a £1bn gap in research funding within the next decade. This is in part due to inflation combined with the cost of living crisis impacting donations to cancer charities.
Add to this that the number of us getting cancer is increasing, projected to go up by a fifth by 2040.
The Royal Free London NHS Trust, which receives the highest number of cancer referrals in London at 50,000 a year, has seen a 10,000 increase in referrals since 2019.
It’s no surprise then that the NHS is missing targets for waiting times between urgent GP referrals and treatment.
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One in two of us will get cancer and, as Patrick knows too well, that word opens up a world of uncertainty. “The word carries so much baggage with it,” he says, and having it can send your mind to “some pretty dark places”.
He talks frankly about the treatment and its side effects, which after his first two rounds, have been minimal. “I didn’t have much of a head of hair to begin with,” he jokes.
Some of his hair has gone in patches, but asked what the hardest thing has been, he doesn’t hesitate: “My father passed away when I was 14. He died of cancer. I have 13-year-old twins so I couldn’t initially shift the thought – is this going to happen again? Passing 48, the age that my father died was a key milestone for me. My children being older than I was when my father passed away was another one.
“Nobody expects their dad to die. It’s a very unreal concept, and I’m not dying – but to try to have that conversation you know – ‘things will be fine.’ It’s very treatable.”
Two weeks after his third round of chemo, scans show the treatment has done its job, Patrick’s surgery can go ahead and is due to happen later this month.
Roopinder Gillmore, lead cancer physician at the Royal Free
More survive cancer as technology advances
Cancer is more treatable now. More of us are surviving it because technology is advancing.
At the Royal Free that ranges from a new cutting-edge £8m PET scanner, which offers a faster more accurate diagnosis, to new drugs offering greater survival chances.
Lead cancer physician at the Royal Free, Roopinder Gillmore, told Sky News: “We are doing surgery quicker, more keyhole robotic surgery in this hospital. We do liver transplants for patients with primary liver cancer, we’re trialling that out in other cancer types which is really exciting.
“We are doing more specialised radiotherapy and for me, my thing is drug treatments, and they are exponentially increasing in terms of what we can offer our patients. The big thing is immunotherapy, we didn’t have that 15 years ago. It has completely changed the outlook for people with lung cancer and skin cancer.”
Backlogs and waiting times have increased
But for all the advances, backlogs and waiting times have built up since the pandemic. The latest NHS figures show 64% of patients received their first treatment within 62 days of an urgent GP referral. The target is 85%.
That stretch on resources has a knock-on impact on patients like 29-year-old Beaux Harris.
Beaux, an actor and dancer who teaches at The Manor Dance Studio in north London, has what is called a mutated BRCA1 gene, which means her chances of getting cancer dramatically increase in her 30s.
She has a 60% chance of getting ovarian cancer and a 90% chance of getting breast cancer.
So she has decided to get a preventative double mastectomy and a hysterectomy but, due to the backlog, she has a long wait.
Beaux Harris has a mutated gene which means her chances of getting cancer dramatically increase in her 30s
‘I feel like I’ve got a ticking time bomb on me’
She says: “I feel like I’ve got a ticking time bomb on me – and it is terrifying. The truth is it doesn’t really feel like a choice when you are presented with a figure like that – it’s like saying would you get on a plane with a 90% chance of it crashing? I know I wouldn’t.”
She has been told that waiting times on the NHS for her preventative treatment is two years at the earliest.
She says people on her online support groups have waited five years. She’s also been told there’s a high chance the operation could be cancelled at the last minute if a high-demand cancer patient needs the slot.
“I could get timed out,” she says. So, she is crowdfunding to get the £50,000 plus she needs to go private.
‘I would love to be worrying about things that every other 29-year-old is worrying about’
She might need more funds if she wants some sort of normality at the end of it.
She says: “If I have a hysterectomy now, I can’t have children. So, I’m also trying to raise money to freeze my eggs. Something that is offered on the NHS to cancer patients, but not to BRCA patients.”
She certainly doesn’t want to wait until she gets cancer. Ovarian cancer is known as the silent killer due to the difficulty in early detection.
Beaux’s grandmother, her mother, and her aunt all died of cancer because of the BRCA1 mutated gene, she hopes to be the first female in her family in generations to survive having it.
“I would love to be worrying about things that every other 29-year-old is worrying about,” she says. “I’ve got some bloody Olivia awards to win!”
Indeed, Beaux is using her talents putting on performances and doing tap dance sessions to raise money for her treatment.
In some ways it is taken for granted that, because it touches so many of us, most of the money raised for cancer research in this country comes from the British public, but charities say the government needs to play a bigger role in ensuring the UK continues to innovate and improve treatment for what remains the defining health issue of our time.
The UK lacks a national plan to defend itself from attack and is moving at a “glacial” pace to fix the problem despite threats from Russia and China, a report by MPs has warned.
With the whole country needing to understand what it means to be ready for war, the Defence Select Committee also said it had seen no sign of a promised “national conversation on defence and security” that was launched by Sir Keir Starmer in June.
Sky News and other journalists were even blocked on Monday from interviewing sailors aboard HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, in direct contrast to the prime minister’s stated aim of greater engagement.
Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. File pic: AP
Public needs to know ‘what to expect’ from war
“We have repeatedly heard concerns about the UK’s ability to defend itself from attack,” said Labour MP Tan Dhesi, chair of the committee.
“Government must be willing to grasp the nettle and prioritise homeland defence and resilience.
“In achieving this, government cannot shy away from direct engagement with the public.
“Wars aren’t won just by generals, but by the whole of the population getting behind the Armed Forces and playing our part.
“There needs to be a co-ordinated effort to communicate with the public on the level of threat we face and what to expect in the event of conflict.”
The Royal Navy tracked a Russian submarine in UK waters last month. Pic: Royal Navy/MOD
‘The Wargame’ made real?
The findings of the report support a podcast series by Sky News and Tortoise Media called The Wargame – released in June.
It simulated a Russian attack on the UK and played out what the impact might be for the country in the absence of a credible, resourced and rehearsed national defence plan – something Britain maintained rigorously during the Cold War.
Sky News first revealed in April 2024 that the previous government no longer had such a plan, though work was under way to develop one.
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Flagship aircraft carrier to be placed under NATO command
Report’s assessment of war-readiness
The Defence Select Committee report – based on a nearly year-long inquiry – found: “The UK lacks a plan for defending the homeland and overseas territories with little progress on the Home Defence Programme.”
It said this meant the government was failing to meet a fundamental commitment to the NATO alliance – the Article 3 requirement to maintain the “capacity to resist armed attack”.
The report quoted Luke Pollard, a defence minister, acknowledging that “we have been very clear that we are not satisfied with Article 3 in the UK”.
Britain’s new Ajax fighting vehicle, which arrived overdue and at great financial cost. Pic: PA
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Yet the MPs’ report added: “Despite this recognition from government… measures to remediate seem to be moving at a glacial pace.”
It said: “Cross-government working on homeland defence and resilience is nowhere near where it needs to be. The government has said repeatedly that we are in an era of new threat, yet decision-making is slow and opaque.”
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The rebuke from the MPs was published as John Healey, the defence secretary, prepares to announce that 13 sites across the UK have been identified as possible locations for at least six new weapons factories.
“This is a new era of threat,” he will say at a speech in Westminster later.
“We are making defence an engine for growth, unambiguously backing British jobs and British skills as we make the UK better ready to fight and better able to deter future conflicts.
“This is the path that delivers national and economic security.”
Industry will be invited to submit proposals to produce ammunition and explosives, with the Ministry of Defence saying it hopes work on the first factory will begin next year.
Scotland secured a place at the men’s World Cup for the first time since 1998 as stoppage-time goals by Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean secured a thrilling 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden Park.
Scott McTominay’s spectacular third-minute bicycle kick had given the hosts a half-time lead.
Rasmus Hojlund equalised for the Danes in the 57th minute shortly before Rasmus Kristensen was sent off, but Lawrence Shankland restored Scotland’s advantage.
When Patrick Dorgu brought Denmark level again with nine minutes remaining, it seemed they would claim the point needed to top the group and book their place at next year’s tournament in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
However, Tierney fired an unstoppable shot past Kasper Schmeichel in the third minute of stoppage time
And then, with the Denmark goalkeeper up in attack at the other end of the pitch, McLean hit a long-range effort from his own half to spark delirious scenes.
Scotland’s Kenny McLean celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal against Denmark. Pic: PA
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The victory saw Scotland top Group C and secure automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
Head coach Steve Clarke had already led his country to back-to-back European Championships.
He told the BBC: “Scott McTominay scored the best overhead kick I’ve ever seen, and it might not have been the best goal of the night!”
Scott McTominay celebrates scoring the opening goal for Scotland. Pic: Reuters
Scotland captain Andy Robertson dedicated the victory to his former Liverpool teammate Diogo Jota, who died earlier this year in a car accident.
He told the BBC: “We certainly put the country through it, but I’m sure it will be worth it.”
“I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today,” he added. We spoke so much together about the World Cup. When he missed out in Qatar through injury and I missed out when Scotland never went.
“We always discussed what it would be like going to this World Cup. I know he’ll be somewhere smiling over me tonight.”
The draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place in Washington on 5 December.
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