Doncaster hospital radiographers stage 48 hour strike in latest NHS industrial action

Staff across Yorkshire will walk out from 8am in an effort to tackle the recruitment and retention problems besetting the profession – which have left one million patients on NHS waiting lists.

Members in trusts including Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber, and Airedale are going out on strike, demanding urgent improvements to pay and conditions for the radiography workforce.

Union representatives from each trust have worked with trust executives to provide life and limb cover for patients. This usually consists of the same staffing levels that would be provided on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Nine out of 10 patients in the NHS are supported by a radiography professional – they are responsible for carrying out X-rays, MRI and CT scans, ultrasounds and breast screening, as well as radiotherapy for cancer patients.

But too few radiographers are being recruited or retained right now. As a result, a million patients are currently waiting to be seen by a radiographer – often delaying vital diagnosisand treatment for months.

Melissa, a radiographer working in a Sheffield hospital, said: “Everyone in my team is so dedicated to putting patients first. We’re often cancelling plans at weekends and shifting plans around.

“Some days, there’s only six or seven of us to cover X-rays, fluoroscopy, outpatients, theatre, CT. If you have three members of staff in theatre, the CT running, fluoroscopy running, that leaves only two people to cover everything else. You don’t have time to spend with your patients, because you know there are patients outside who’ve been waiting for an hour.”

Many radiographers work punishingly long shifts to ensure that patient care does not suffer as a result of staffing shortages. This takes an inevitable toll on their physical and emotional health.

Melissa said: “I work 22.5 hours basic. But I probably do at least 40 hours a week. Some weeks I’ve gone up to 55 hours in one week. We’re doing well in excess of double hours sometimes. And that’s as a part-timer. Full-timers are doing about 70 hours a week.

“It’s great that everyone is so dedicated. But in the last year, work has really started to take over people’s lives. I had to miss my child’s sports day. I’ve missed family events. I’ve missed an engagement party.

“But I’m also missing out on day-to-day family time. My children are seven and 13. My little girl, she sometimes cries when I go to work, because I go to work a lot. My older one, she understands why I’m not there. But it does affect her.

"At that age, teenage girls don’t always want to talk to their dad about everything. She misses having her mum there.

“Working those hours, your brain sometimes can’t process things – it forgets how to relax. I feel like I’m constantly on edge, because I’m always thinking about work. You never get that separation of work and home life.”

Despite working long hours in a professional position, radiographers often find themselves struggling to make ends meet. One spoke of how, at the age of 30, he was still living with his parents. Another, a single mother, said that she was unable to afford to take her daughter on holiday, even for a week.

The low pay, coupled with long hours, is forcing people to leave the profession. “I’ve considered moving out of the public sector – maybe thinking about radiography in the private sector,” said Melissa. “Or maybe lecturing in radiography. I don’t want to do that, but I wonder how long I can carry on as I am.”

Many radiographers agonised over the decision of whether or not to go out on strike. Melissa said: “Striking is not just about pay – though I think we deserve to be paid more, considering everything expected of us. But it’s also about getting more staff into the profession.

“The pay, attracting more people to the job, the training – if all that improved, it would all have a positive impact on patients.”

Dean Rogers, executive director of industrial strategy and member relations for the Society of Radiographers, said: “Voting for strike action was a difficult decision for our members, who care above all about the safety and wellbeing of their patients.

“We need to draw attention to the fact that many radiography professionals are feeling burnt out by low pay and increased hours. They’re leaving the NHS, and they are not being

replaced in adequate numbers.

“If the government wants to reduce NHS waiting lists and ensure that patients receive the treatment they need, when they need it, then it must urgently prioritise the recruitment and retention of radiography professionals – and that means talking to us about pay and conditions. But they are refusing to talk to us, even though our door is open.

“Our members deserve better. Our patients deserve better.”