Liverpool’s hospitals could be hit by further strike action as the Society of Radiographers (SoR) ballots its members.
The SoR, the trade union and professional body for diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers, is balloting members for strike action in 28 NHS trusts in the North West, including Liverpool University Hospitals, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital. The union is seeking significant improvements in pay and conditions to increase recruitment and retention of radiography professionals.
One member of staff working for Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust (LUHFT) said without an improved pay offer, she may struggle to arrange childcare for her daughter.
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Radiography professionals are responsible for carrying out x-rays, MRI and CT scans, ultrasounds and breast screening. They also provide radiotherapy for cancer patients.
One member of staff, who was not named, working in Liverpool, said: “Radiography is often rewarding – knowing you’ve helped someone on the path to treatment. Especially the old people we get in – they might not have spoken to anyone that day.
“But patients can become quite irate, because they’re just sat, waiting in the waiting room, for 12 hours. It’s just the way things are. Nobody can get a GP appointment, so the only place to go is A&E.”
The Society of Radiographers is urging its members to vote yes in favour of strike action before June 28. The LUHFT staff member added: “The bills are going up.
“That’s always in the back of my mind. I start thinking that maybe I can’t pay for the play classes my little girl goes to.
“I don’t do that much overtime, because of childcare. My weekends are time with my little girl. But once a month I do overtime, and it makes a massive difference to my pay. My overtime rate is £35 an hour, and my regular rate is £16 an hour.
“I’d like to take my little girl on holiday. But it’s a struggle. If I don’t go out or buy anything for 10 months of the year – no little treats or extras – then I’ll be able to go on holiday.
“To lose one or two days’ pay is going to have a massive financial impact on me. The lump sum the government has offered us is not what we’re actually getting – not after tax and National Insurance. They're going to carry on doing this and getting away with it unless someone takes a stand.”
Dean Rogers, director of industrial strategy for the Society of Radiographers, said: “Doctors and nurses in Liverpool cannot do their jobs without our members – the radiographers, sonographers, mammographers, therapy radiographers and radiology support workforce. Waiting lists are growing and, for a cancer patient awaiting diagnosis and radiotherapy treatment, even a two-week wait can mean the difference between life and death.
“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. The government won’t even talk to us about the fair and reasonable steps required to do this, which is why we feel we have no other option but to ballot our members for strike action.”
The Society of Radiographers’ members took part in an indicative ballot in April and voted to reject the government’s pay offer of 5% plus a non-consolidated lump sum for 2022-23. The union is therefore in a formal trade dispute with the health secretary and with the individual NHS trusts that directly employ members.
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