Erectile Dysfunction

It gives results from a survey by the Royal College of Radiologists showing one in 10 new radiotherapy machines nationwide is lying idle despite waiting lists for treatment.

More than half of machines capable of providing new tissue-sparing treatment are also not operating or are under-used because of lack of trained staff.

Michael Williams, vice president of the Royal College of Radiologists, said 11 per cent of posts for radiotherapy staff are currently unfilled.

The target system was a "blunt instrument" which was making things worse, but it was "not good medicine" to give patients treatment they didn't need, he said.

"I wouldn't support manipulating a waiting list in that way.

"I think that many clinicians feel that prostate cancer patients are inappropriately prioritised but that's how the rules have been written' he added.

Each year in the UK 30,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed.

Patients immediately become "cancer priority" cases even though some at low risk of the disease progressing may benefit from careful monitoring for a few months before the use of radiotherapy or drug treatment.

Mr Hamilton has tried to get the rules changed without success and is calling for an "honest and open debate" about them because he does ...

Read more...