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They’ve done it again.
Made my life easy. Given me a topic for the day.
The DH+ comms department. The gift that keeps on giving.
Another headline…
‘NHS hospitals to get cutting-edge machines to speed up cancer treatment.’
… once again we reach for our new best friend, the High Rising Terminal…
‘NHS hospitals to get cutting-edge machines to speed up cancer treatment?’
Bring-on the NHS Question Mark.
The headlines are reassuring. The NHS is getting 28 new linear accelerator, radiotherapy machines to treat cancer.
A £70 million investment. Shiny new kit rolled out in 21 months… by March 2027.
What’s not to like? Quite a bit, actually.
Reach for the trusty back-of-a-fag-packet… do the maths.
£70 million, divided by 28 hospitals, gives each trust about £2.5 million. That just about covers the cost of a modern machine… if you’re lucky.
A Varian TrueBeam, for example, comes in around £2 million. An Elekta Versa HD, similar ballpark. However…
… they don’t just plug into the wall.
They need space, lots of it. Highly specialised, radiation-shielded bunkers that often need ripping out and rebuilding.
Bring money.
Add to that, specialised foundations are needed as the kit has to be pinpoint accurate and that can only be achieved if the environment is vibration free.
Then there’s;
- installation,
- commissioning,
- software,
- calibration,
- IT integration,
- training,
- safety-checks and
- downtime-planning so cancer patients aren’t left in limbo while their local machine is being swapped out.
Bring more money.
None of that happens quickly. Even in the best-run hospitals, my guess is you’re looking at 9 to 18 months from procurement to first patient treatment. That’s assuming everything goes smoothly…
… no supply chain delays, no planning authority push-back, no workforce gaps and a fully functioning estates department and yes there are vacancies in estates, hence the very perceptive estates graduate scheme.
Plus, a radiographer shortage of approximately 2,000 professionals. A shortfall exacerbated by increasing demand for diagnostic imaging, which has grown by 30% over the past five years
Multiply that lot by 28 hospitals, a set of 28 variables and you’ll see the problem. All 28 up and running in under two years... yeh, right.
It’s not the machines I doubt. It’s the machinery of delivery.
Can the manufacturers can build them?
Probably… if the NHS has already completed procurement, locked in production slots, secured delivery schedules, and begun site works… because it’s not just about the machines being ready, it’s about everything else being ready for them.
There are other factors;
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Global Demand: manufacturers also serve the US, EU, China, emerging markets.
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Modular Production: manufacturers like Varian (Siemens Healthineers) and Elekta already supply globally, producing hundreds of units per year. They’re built in modular units, with lead times per machine around 6–9 months.
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Supply Chain Risks: tariffs, trade deals, critical components such as shielding materials, chips to control electronics, imaging systems all vulnerable to supply chain disruption.
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Scheduling Constraints: even if all 28 machines are ready in time, delivery, installation and commissioning windows must be coordinated with 28 hospitals… many of which will need significant building work before a machine can be dropped in.
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Workforce Bottlenecks: there’s a limited pool of specialists to install, calibrate and sign off installations. That becomes a hard limit, even if all the machines are ready.
Looking busy, isn't being busy
Our great leader’s latest wheeze, like so many others, makes for a strong headline with numbers enough to impress.
But, as ever, the ambition in the press release dissolves under scrutiny.
The money’s tight, the delivery window narrow and the infrastructure isn’t ready. We know Streeting says silly things, but he's not entirely stupid. He must be clever enough to know all this.
He has never got out of campaigning mode, banking on the political capital a press release brings, not the operational reality of waiting lists patients are banking on him to fix.
He and I have something in common. We are both cancer survivors and we both know cancer patients need reduced waiting times, working machines, trained staff and treatment that starts on time...
... not unrealistic promises.
Streeting has fallen into the trap of looking busy. Busy politics is barren politics.
Patients can’t be treated with press releases.
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