Campaign Overview
The cancer care staffing crisis campaign for the Royal College of Radiologists focused on one of the most urgent workforce issues facing the NHS: a shortage of specialist doctors delaying scans, diagnosis and cancer treatment. With patients waiting longer for answers and doctors warning that conditions were worsening, the campaign turned complex workforce data into a major national health story.
The campaign was built around a clear and alarming finding: nearly 8 in 10 radiology leaders had seen patients’ conditions worsen because there were not enough specialist doctors to diagnose and treat them quickly enough. Alongside this, almost 9 in 10 cancer leaders reported delays to treatment including radiotherapy and chemotherapy, while more than 1 million NHS scan results took longer than a month.
The strength of the campaign was its balance of scale, authority and human impact. The data showed a system under severe strain, but the patient case study brought the issue out of spreadsheets and into real life. Jenni, a 51-year-old assistant headteacher from Hull, described waiting up to five weeks for scan results and the severe impact this had on her mental health. That gave broadcasters a powerful human lens through which to explain what delayed diagnosis and delayed treatment really mean.
The campaign also gave media a strong policy and financial angle. The Royal College of Radiologists warned that the NHS had spent a record £362 million in a single year on outsourcing, locums and overtime in radiology services alone, enough to pay more than 3,000 consultant radiologists. This helped the story move beyond waiting lists and into a wider debate about workforce planning, recruitment freezes and the cost of short-term fixes.
This cancer care staffing crisis campaign cut through because it gave broadcasters everything they needed: urgent national data, credible medical spokespeople, a patient voice, regional relevance and a clear call to action. The resulting coverage spanned Good Morning Britain, Sky News, Channel 5 News, BBC Scotland Breakfast TV, BBC Scotland Evening News, ITV Wales, ITV Ulster, ITV Calendar, That’s TV, LBC, BBC radio, Bauer, Global and Sky News Radio, placing the Royal College of Radiologists at the centre of a major public conversation about cancer care, diagnosis and the future of the NHS workforce.
Strong Results in Context
- Secured national TV coverage on Good Morning Britain, taking the campaign into a major mainstream breakfast news audience
- Generated repeated Sky News coverage across the day, including early morning, breakfast and mid-morning bulletins
- Delivered national evening TV coverage on Channel 5 News
- Secured BBC Scotland Breakfast TV and BBC Scotland Evening News, giving the campaign major devolved TV news coverage
- Achieved major ITV regional TV coverage, including ITV Wales, ITV Ulster and multiple ITV Calendar bulletins
- Delivered additional regional TV pickup through That’s TV, extending the story across local television audiences
- Secured high-profile LBC coverage across overnight and morning drive programming
- Reached BBC audiences across the nations and regions, including BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Lancashire and BBC Radio Cumbria
- Delivered national commercial radio scale through Sky News Radio, Bauer Network Bulletin and Global Network coverage
- Extended the story further through Radio News Wire and regional broadcast pickup across the UK
- Delivered 851 broadcast opportunities, reaching 302,175,898 people
- Messaging consistently linked the RCR to dangerous delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment, worsening patient conditions, recruitment freezes and the urgent need for permanent specialist staff
- Turned a specialist NHS workforce issue into a mainstream public health story with national, regional and devolved relevance
- Positioned the Royal College of Radiologists as the authoritative voice on radiology, oncology and cancer workforce pressures
Audience Insight
- More than 1 million NHS scan results took longer than a month, despite no patient being expected to wait that long
- Nearly 8 in 10 radiology leaders said they had seen patients’ conditions worsen because of specialist doctor shortages
- Almost 9 in 10 cancer leaders reported delays to patients starting treatment, including radiotherapy and chemotherapy
- Around 1 in 5 patients waited more than six weeks for a diagnostic scan
- Demand for complex imaging was growing more than twice as fast as the workforce needed to interpret it
- Diagnostics now play a role in around 85% of all NHS patient pathways
- The NHS was already short of more than 2,200 radiologists and over 230 clinical oncologists
- By 2030, the shortfall was expected to rise to 40% for radiologists and 26% for clinical oncologists if workforce growth did not accelerate
- Nearly half of clinical oncologists and around 4 in 10 radiologists were expected to retire within the next decade
- More than half of cancer centres and nearly 4 in 10 radiology departments experienced recruitment freezes in 2025
- Only around 1 in 5 radiology leaders said they had enough consultants to provide safe and effective care
- Radiology departments spent £362 million in one year on outsourcing, locums and overtime
- Rural and deprived communities faced some of the worst shortages, creating a clear postcode lottery angle
- Smaller hospitals were operating with radiologist shortfalls of around 43%, compared with around 30% in large teaching hospitals
- Every month cancer treatment is delayed can increase the risk of death by around 10%
Why the Story Worked
- It made a specialist workforce issue feel urgent, human and nationally relevant
- It connected delayed scans directly to delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment and patient outcomes
- The campaign gave broadcasters a clear top line: staffing shortages were worsening patient conditions
- The patient case study gave the story emotional weight without overwhelming the medical evidence
- Multiple expert spokespeople allowed the story to work across the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- The financial angle gave journalists a second route into the story, showing the cost of outsourcing and short-term workforce fixes
- The call to action was clear and repeatable: end recruitment freezes, increase training places and invest in permanent specialist staff
- Regional data and spokespeople helped the story travel beyond national news and into local audiences
- The campaign avoided jargon by explaining radiology and oncology through their impact on scans, diagnosis and treatment
- The scale and calibre of coverage showed the story could work across national TV, regional TV, BBC radio, commercial radio and network news formats
The Challenge
- The campaign needed to make complex NHS workforce data understandable for mainstream broadcast audiences
- It had to explain radiology, oncology, diagnostics and cancer treatment without becoming too technical
- The story needed to show patient harm clearly while remaining sensitive, factual and responsible
- A specialist medical issue had to be framed as a national public health concern
- The campaign needed to balance professional authority with emotional impact
- Regional relevance mattered because workforce shortages varied across the UK
- The patient case study had to be used carefully, adding human weight without making the campaign feel exploitative
- The RCR’s call to action needed to remain clear across multiple formats, from live TV interviews to short radio bulletins
- Messaging had to remain consistent across national TV, regional TV, BBC radio, commercial radio and news wires
- The campaign had to cut through in a crowded NHS news environment where waiting lists, funding and workforce pressures are already heavily discussed
