More than 46,000 people have signed a petition calling for the NHS to fund a "life-changing" cancer treatment.

The petition, raised by PLANETS Cancer Charity, is urging the NHS to give neuroendocrine tumour (NET) patients access to selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT).

SIRT was approved for use more than a year ago, however, is still not available through the NHS.

Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, Caroline Nokes, has written to health and social care secretary Wes Streeting about the issue.

She said: "Constituents of mine with neuroendocrine tumours should not be caught in a bureaucratic limbo when effective treatment is both available and approved.

"There needs to be fairness and transparency for these patients."

Every year around 6,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with NETs.

This type of cancer is often slow-growing, however, it can be difficult to detect and treat.

Many of these patients develop tumours in the liver where the treatment could offer "significant benefits."

SIRT involves injecting millions of tiny radioactive beads called microspheres into the blood supply in the liver to destroy cancer cells.

Despite approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in May 2024, NHS England has yet to commission it.

This means patients do not have access to the treatment and there is no clear timeline for when it will be available.

Layla Stephen, a NET patient from Hampshire and director of strategy and finance for PLANETS Cancer Charity, said: "Patients are missing out simply because of red tape.

"Without NHS commissioning, only those that can afford to go private have access to SIRT and that is simply not right or fair - we need to change this."

SIRT is already available on the NHS for patients whose liver cancer developed in the organ directly or has spread to it from the bowel.

However, NET patients remain excluded from this - despite evidence showing they could benefit equally.

Layla added: "In a statement earlier this year, NHS England said it was developing a national policy on SIRT to ensure all patients across England have the best possible treatment, yet there is still no confirmed timeline despite approval in May last year, leaving patients in limbo and suffering agonising uncertainty."