Charity calls on NHS England to fund approved treatment for rare cancers

A cancer charity has criticised NHS England for failing to fund a pioneering targeted radiotherapy treatment for patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) in the liver.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) approved selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) for use in the NHS in May last year.

Until the decision, SIRT was only available to patients whose liver cancer had developed in the organ directly or spread to it from the bowel.

But despite the approval for the treatment, NHS England has not yet provided funding for patients to benefit from it.

Layla Stephen, an NET cancer patient and director of strategy and finance for Hampshire-based Planets cancer charity, said: “It is completely unacceptable that a treatment which has been deemed safe, effective, and cost-efficient is still not being made available to the very patients it was approved for.

“This is another example of how bureaucracy is failing cancer patients.

“People with NETs don’t have time to wait – they need access to the best treatments now, not in another year or two.

“NHS England must act immediately to fund this treatment and stop playing with people’s lives.”

Around 6,000 new cases of NETs, which are rare types of cancer usually found in the pancreas, bowel or lungs, are diagnosed each year in the UK.

A Planets spokesman explained that SIRT involved injecting millions of tiny radioactive beads called microspheres which are smaller than the width of a human hair, into the blood supply in the liver.

He said: “The beads stick to the small blood vessels in cancer cells in the liver and release radiation which destroys them, causing minimal damage to surrounding healthy cells as the radiation only travels a few millimetres from where the beads settle.”

Nice stated in its review of SIRT that it can result in fewer side effects, faster recovery times and better quality of life for patients compared to surgery or chemotherapy.

But despite the approval, NHS England has not yet developed a service to deliver SIRT for NET patients.

Dr Brian Stedman, a leading interventional oncologist and co-founder of Planets, said: “We’re seeing a pattern where Nice approval is used as a mechanism to delay progress.

“NHS England demands a Nice evaluation, but once a treatment is approved, they claim the service isn’t commissioned.

“This leaves both doctors and patients in an impossible position – Nice has recommended the treatment, but there’s no way to access it.”

Dr Sachin Modi, a consultant interventional radiologist and member of the Planets clinical team, added: “Research shows that NETs, as a collective group, is the tenth most prevalent cancer in England and, with the increasing incidence of NETs diagnoses, it is critical that there are a variety of treatment options that enable clinicians to improve patient care.”

An NHS spokeswoman said: “The NHS understands the concerns raised about access to selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) for neuroendocrine tumours in the liver.

“The health service is currently reviewing a clinical proposal and developing a new national mandated NHS policy on SIRT to ensure all patients across England have the best possible treatment for their liver metastases.”

Planets has created a petition to call on NHS England to fund SIRT which can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/ensure-access-for-cancer-patients-to-life-changing-treatment-approved-by-nice

Published: 24/03/2025 by Radio NewsHub