Opinion
“Staff shortages must not be an afterthought”
Dean Rogers, SoR executive director
Dean Rogers, SoR executive director
The Society of Radiographers welcomes the government’s decision to publish a plan for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that the NHS will need in five, 10 and 15 years’ time.
The government has clearly been listening to our calls to commit to a long-term funded plan, with regular reviews – and this feels like a promising first step.
However, this cannot be counterpointed by measures that make recruitment and retention of staff more difficult in the short term. Cutting National Insurance from 12 per cent to 10 per cent is a surprising decision – and one that invites scepticism about the government’s sincerity to tackle problems in the NHS – given the last 13 years of chronic underfunding.
There remains a current and pressing shortage of radiography professionals – who work in diagnostic services, carrying out X-rays, MRI and CT scans, and in therapeutic services, planning and delivering radiotherapy to cancer patients.
“Failure to consider the short term makes us wonder how serious the government really is about its long-term strategy”
In the NHS, nine out of 10 patients are supported by a radiography professional. In our most recent workforce census, published in 2022, 94 per cent of respondents said that there were vacant posts for diagnostic radiographers in their departments. Nationally, the average UK vacancy rate for radiographers is 12.7 per cent.
As a result, a million patients are currently waiting to be seen by a radiographer – often delaying vital diagnosis and treatment for months.
Current staffing issues therefore cannot – and must not – be an afterthought. The long-term recruitment strategy must be backed up by attractive pay and working conditions. Why choose a career in radiography if you’ll be expecting to work excessive hours, day and night, for the lowest graduate starting salary across the public sector?
Yet the government has consistently announced funding for new equipment, without allocating any funds for the radiographers to provide patient care. Our members tell us that new equipment ends up standing idle in their departments, because it did not come with any funding for additional staff.
This failure to consider the short term makes us wonder how serious the government really is about its long-term strategy.
And it is why staff and patients – particularly those on ever-growing NHS waiting lists – remain sceptical about the government’s longer-term plans, however promising they may sound.
Our members deserve better. Our patients deserve better.
Leandre Archer, Head of Industry relations, SOR
Leandre Archer, Head of Industry relations, SOR
‘New health secretary, new opportunities? We can only hope’
Head of industrial relations for SoR, Leandre Archer, sets out the Society’s hopes for the new Secretary of State for Health
The announcement of the cabinet reshuffle will provide an opportunity for fresh eyes on the SoR’s recent pay dispute, and we hope that with that comes a new way of dealing with NHS pay and conditions in the future.
Victoria Atkins was the previous financial secretary to the treasury having been involved in the NHS funding settlement for the autumn budget, and with this should realise that a long term funding approach to the NHS will ensure effectiveness and sustainability.
The chronic underfunding of the NHS over the past 12 years has caused the issues we are all facing now. Over 1 million people in England are currently waiting on diagnostic imaging and waiting times for radiotherapy treatment are increasing. This is having detrimental effects on patient care and treatment.
Ms Atkins should understand that the radiography workforce is in crisis, and that to deal with waiting lists - which she states as one of her top priorities - she will need to deal with the retention and recruitment issues within the profession.
“Ms Atkins should understand that the radiography workforce is in crisis”
There is a 13 per cent vacancy rate in radiography: that is more than one in every 10 professionals missing from the workforce. With one of the lowest levels of pay in the public sector on graduating with a degree, and the workforce experiencing approximately a 23 per cent pay cut in real terms since 2008, the reasons people are moving out of the profession are very blatant.
Members tell us they are struggling to pay their bills and deal with the low staffing levels, which are causing burnout and fatigue. Members are doing excessive hours and overtime is the norm while running 24-hour, seven days a week services, and this is having a detrimental effect on their work-life balances.
This is why SoR members took industrial action in England and Northern Ireland earlier this year: they feel that no-one is listening and both them and patients are suffering.
We in SoR have outlined our asks from the new Health Secretary:
Removing politics from the NHS
We have emphasised the need to change direction and set a long-term path towards building a world-class, 21st-century NHS.
When the Society of Radiographers meets Ms Atkins, our agenda will therefore include the following:
1. Take the politics out of the NHS
This is the fifth change of health secretary since Matt Hancock left the post in June 2021. This short-termist panicked approach is not benefiting the NHS. This is the last opportunity before a general election to change direction and set a long-term path towards building a world-class, 21st-century NHS.
2. Work with unions to address the workforce crisis
SoR members took three days of strike action this year, after voting overwhelmingly to reject the government’s pay offer of 5 per cent plus a non-consolidated lump sum for 2022-23. The union remains in a formal trade dispute with the health secretary and with the individual NHS trusts that directly employ members.
If Ms Atkins genuinely wants to find a solution to the current workforce crises afflicting the NHS, then she needs to talk and listen to the unions. Ministers and unions need to be working together in partnership.
3. Commit to pay restoration
The imminent 2024-25 pay review can be used to commit the government – before and after a general election – to a minimum inflation-plus pay award every year, until pay is restored to 2008 levels. The legal mechanism that currently protects the value of NHS pensions should also be applied to the pay of those still working in the NHS. This would boost morale and improve recruitment and retention.
This year, the majority of university courses for diagnostic radiography had to enter clearing, because of a lack of students to fill their places. In 2021-22, most radiography courses reported that more than one in five – 21 per cent – students dropped out. This will not change unless there is a serious commitment from the government to address pay and working conditions.
4. Invest in people, not just tech
While we support the government’s plan to open new community diagnostic centres (CDCs), an independent review for NHS England stated that staffing the new CDCs would require an additional 4,000 radiographers, as well as 2,000 radiologists and 500 advanced practitioners.
Yet, while £2.3 billion has been allocated for capital expenditure for the CDC programme, there has been no funding at all for additional staffing. If Ms Atkins is serious about reducing NHS waiting lists, then she needs to invest in recruiting and retaining professionals to manage patient care.
We look forward to discussing these points with Ms Atkins at her earliest convenience.
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Dean Rogers is director of industrial strategy for the Society of Radiographers.
Leandre Archer is head of industrial relations for SoR.
Find out more about the Society's union activities here.
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