Patients miss out on cancer treatment

CANCER patients are missing out on access to radiotherapy and few people know it can help cure the disease, a charity claimed today.

At the moment, almost 40% of patients in the UK receive radiotherapy but around 50% could actually benefit.

Therefore, some 30,000 cancer patients may be missing out on the treatment.

A survey for Cancer Research UK published today found just one in 10 people knew that radiotherapy helps cure 40% of cancer patients.

And just 14% of 2,000 people polled were aware that half of all cancer patients could benefit from radiotherapy.

The poll also found that treatments, such as new drugs, surgery and chemotherapy, are regarded as more “cutting edge”.