Radiographers in Northern Ireland are calling for the pay rise necessary to stop the brain drain from the profession – and to ensure that HSC waiting lists do not continue to increase.
Over 900 members of the Society of Radiographers across Northern Ireland took to the picket line today for 12 hours – joining thousands of other workers throughout the province in the biggest-ever strike in Northern Ireland’s recent history.
Praising staff, Cora Regan, Northern Ireland national officer for the Society of Radiographers, said: "We were thrilled to see so many members braving the freezing temperatures to stand on the picket line and make the point that the government cannot keep paying radiographers out-of-date wages and just hope that things will carry on as normal.
"Will going on strike have an impact? Our answer is that it has to. As a country, we can't afford any other outcome. We cannot keep on going the way we are. It's not sustainable for our members, and it's not sustainable for our patients.
"Going out on strike is a difficult decision, especially during the winter months. But if we want to avoid facing a worsening crisis in HSC hospitals every winter, then we need to do something now to improve the recruitment and retention of radiographers.
“We need to offer our radiography professionals considerably better pay and conditions if we want to be able to keep them in our hospitals – and avoid patient waiting lists growing even longer than they are already.”
