RUGBY legend Lawrence Dallaglio will accuse NHS bosses of failing cancer patients when he meets the Prime Minister this week.
Last night the former England captain spoke of his "anger" at NHS England's decision to renege on an agreement to improve patient access to stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).
The "gamma knife" surgery kills tumours without the need for lengthy hospital stays.
He hopes to resurrect the £5million-a-year deal to give an extra 2,000 patients access to advanced radiotherapy when he meets David Cameron.
Mr Dallaglio said: "While the rest of the world is moving forward and increasingly using stereotactic radiotherapy to treat cancer, NHS England is taking us back to the 20th century.
The "gamma knife" surgery kills tumours without the need for lengthy hospital stays.
He hopes to resurrect the £5million-a-year deal to give an extra 2,000 patients access to advanced radiotherapy when he meets David Cameron.
Mr Dallaglio said: "While the rest of the world is moving forward and increasingly using stereotactic radiotherapy to treat cancer, NHS England is taking us back to the 20th century.
"It looks to me that since April NHS England have clearly been working to a different agenda, even from that of the Government, and I will admit their duplicity has angered me. I have lost a lot of faith in them and have serious doubts about whether they are acting in the best interests of cancer patients."
Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt will also see Mr Cameron on Wednesday.
She said last night: "For the past 18 months an advanced radiotherapy gamma-knife machine has been lying idle at University College Hospital, London, because NHS England has stopped them treating patients there.
"There can be no better example of NHS England's failure to put patients first and provide the right treatment."
Mr Dallaglio, whose mother died of cancer in 2008, was drafted in after he wrote to the Prime Minister last year to warn that Britain was "falling behind the rest of the world" in using radiotherapy.
Sean Duffy, national clinical director for cancer, NHS England, said: "There's always more to be done but committing a further £6million of NHS funds to experimental SABR research is a major investment by any reasonable standard."
Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt will also see Mr Cameron on Wednesday.
She said last night: "For the past 18 months an advanced radiotherapy gamma-knife machine has been lying idle at University College Hospital, London, because NHS England has stopped them treating patients there.
"There can be no better example of NHS England's failure to put patients first and provide the right treatment."
Mr Dallaglio, whose mother died of cancer in 2008, was drafted in after he wrote to the Prime Minister last year to warn that Britain was "falling behind the rest of the world" in using radiotherapy.
Sean Duffy, national clinical director for cancer, NHS England, said: "There's always more to be done but committing a further £6million of NHS funds to experimental SABR research is a major investment by any reasonable standard."
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