By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Radiographers on the picket line during strikes at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre said they are “overworked and understaffed”.
Radiographers at 37 NHS trusts in England are undertaking industrial action after rejecting a Government offer of a five per cent pay rise and two one-off payments.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said it was a “fair and reasonable offer”.
Staff in the Society of Radiographers union took to the picket lines at the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital on July 25.
The union says nine out of 10 patients in the NHS are supported by a radiography professional at some point in their treatment.
Jess Winchcombe, a paediatric radiographer, said: “We’ve got chronic short staffing at the moment and radiographers are getting tired and burnt out.
“Something needs to change. We need to improve retention and pay restoration might help with that.
“I’ve been qualified for seven years and things are getting progressively worse.
“A lot of people are moving to agency work because the hours and pay are better.
“It’s not something any of us want to do, but we also feel that for the safety of patients, it’s important because there just aren’t enough staff to provide the services we want to provide.”
She added: “This is about the future of the NHS too because we strongly believe in our NHS and we can see it being run into the ground.”
She said the radiographers may not have needed to strike if the Government had agreed to talks with the union.
Andreia Silva, a reporting radiographer, added that “a lot of services absolutely cannot run without radiology”.
She said radiographers are often the people who first find out when a patient has cancer.
She said: “Radiographers are severely overworked, running backwards and forward for nine or 12 hours and seeing 50 to 60 patients per shift.
“There’s been radiographers crying on shift because it’s just too stressful.
“They’re exhausted. We need support for staff retention and more awareness of the profession.
“It’s not just X-rays – we do CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, mammograms and radiotherapy as well.”
Duane Mclean, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We recognise the contribution our radiographers make to the delivery of high quality care to our patients and we respect the rights of members to strike.
“We appreciate that the days where strike action is taking place will be challenging for our teams, whether they are taking action or not and we are incredibly grateful to all our staff who are going above and beyond to continue to deliver services during this strike period.
“Details surrounding the strike regarding conditions and pay are matters for the government and unions to discuss.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I want to see an end to disruptive strikes so the NHS can focus relentlessly on cutting waiting lists and delivering for patients.
“The majority of unions on the NHS Staff Council voted to accept the government’s fair and reasonable offer of a five per cent pay rise for 2023-24, alongside two significant one-off payments totalling at least £1,655, putting more money in their pockets now.
“Over a million NHS staff, including radiographers, are already benefitting from that pay rise. The NHS also recently published the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to recruit and retain hundreds of thousands more staff.
“This pay award is final and so I urge the Society of Radiographers to call off strikes.”
