Medical Imaging: We're Not Invisible

Medical imaging workers make sure you can get your crucial scans done in the hospital – whether it’s to detect a cancerous tumour, broken bones or to snap a picture of your baby for the very first time. However, the service they provide is facing significant sta­ffing shortages, worsened by much lower pay compared to the private sector and mainland.

As the overall vacancy rate at the RHH is now hitting a shocking 30%, there’s a real staff­ing crisis in medical imaging services statewide.

This means that important scans medical imaging workers would normally do are being outsourced to private providers, waiting lists are growing exorbitantly long, and the community is being placed at risk. Staff are working dangerous amounts of overtime trying to do as much as they can for their patients, but the services will only deteriorate as workers continue to flood elsewhere.

What needs to change?

The government must take urgent action to implement a market allowance – an additional standing increase to the base salaries of medical imaging workers, to ensure our hospitals are able to recruit and retain these specialist professionals.

Our health issues are not invisible because of medical imaging workers. It’s time for them to be seen and their issues to be heard so they can continue to provide essential services to our communities.

How you can help:

Send a strong message to Health Minister Guy Barnett and urge the government to value our medical imaging workers by clicking here. *Opens up in your email app.

Union members get the victory

On October 18, HACSU received confirmation in writing after hours that members forced the Department to finally approve an application for the market allowance for medical imaging AHPs statewide after months of industrial action.

For current and future Radiographers, Nuclear Medicine Technologists and Mammographic Technologists – the market allowance will be payable as an additional $10,000 per annum.

The market allowance will be payable to all current and future sonographers at a rate of 20 per cent of their salary per annum.

The market allowance is pro-rata and will be in place until 31 March 2026, with a review of this to take place no later than 26 October 2025.

Make no mistake, this win was members’ alone. Medical imaging members took industrial action for nearly six months, which included going on strike twice, not using the new CT suite, not billing patients and even ambushing the Health Minister at his own press conference.

"We're a good little team, and we try to help each other out, but we're a bit defeated at the moment.

"We provide a 24-hour service in the hospital and see patients with all kinds of needs. It's a lot of work.

"Everybody's getting burnt out. There are currently three of us, and we have an FTE of 5.5.

"We're trying to take up the same workload. I work in cancer imaging, and no one wants cancer patients to wait for their scans, so they have to wait for treatment. But at some point, it's going to break. And I think we're nearly there".

Lauren Moon, Nuclear Medicine Technologist

Medical Imaging workers ramp up strike action as government stalls on pay talks - 21 August 2024

HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists at the RHH have again been left with no option but to escalate their industrial action, walking off the job for two hours on Wednesday 21 August. 

This comes as the Medical Imaging Department experiences over 30% vacancy rates, causing staff burnout and leaving some of the most vulnerable in the community without vital scans.

Medical imaging workers are making the reasonable request to receive a market allowance – an additional standing increase to the base salaries to match mainland wages – and have been taking industrial action for over three months, including recently banning the use of a new $9 million CT scanner in the Department and halting all billing for patient referrals. Despite this, the government has not engaged directly with the workers’ union since June.

“The health minister committed prior to the last state election that he was going to fix the health system, and it just shows that we’re still in crisis when workers need to strike just to try and get the minister to listen,” HACSU State Secretary Robbie Moore says.

“The fact remains we have massive staffing shortfalls in medical imaging, and we simply cannot attract these vital health professionals due to the significant pay disparity between Tasmanian medical imaging workers and their interstate counterparts.”

If the government continues to turn a blind eye to this staffing crisis, workers will be forced to consider escalating to full-day work stoppages.

Watch media coverage of the 21 August 2024 industrial action in the video below.

Critical staffing shortage delays use of RHH's new $8 million CT/Angio suite - 15 July 2024

HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists at the Royal Hobart Hospital stepped up industrial action by putting a ban on operating the government’s new $8 million dollar CT/Angio suite.

The suite, which was due to open on 15 July 2024, will not be used until the government urgently intervenes to fix the department’s staffing crisis.

This accompanies other work bans members have put in place around the processing of referral forms, answering phones, and not completing mandatory training.

The department is currently running at 30% vacancy rates as the low wages of medical imaging professionals in the public sector means that staff are flocking to private employers and other states where pay is as much as $10 an hour more.

“Our medical imaging services continue to be plagued with critical staffing shortages, yet the government continues to drag its feet on committing to and implementing a market allowance to attract and retain staff, which means the community is left with further reduced services and cancelled appointments,” HACSU State Secretary Robbie Moore says.

“If the government can’t properly invest in their workforce, they can’t expect medical imaging workers to spread themselves even thinner to operate new facilities.”

Union members in medical imaging do not take the decision to put a ban on using the new suite lightly but feel that they have been left with no other choice amid feeling ignored by the Health Minister Guy Barnett.

Watch media coverage of the 15 July 2024 industrial action in the video below.

Stop work action - 19 June 2024

HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists walked off the job for 30 minutes on Wednesday 19 June to protest the government’s inaction on implementing a market allowance.

HACSU has repeatedly called on the Department to commit to implement an additional 20% allowance for all medical imaging staff in the state to address chronic retention and attraction issues, with some staff receiving more than $10 an hour less than they would be paid in the private sector interstate. This disparity in pay has meant that the RHH’s medical imaging department is currently operating at 30% vacancies.

These staffing shortfalls have had a significant effect on the community’s ability to access vital scans, with services to Theatre, Liverpool clinics and MRI often reduced. The Department of Health committed weeks ago to applying for the allowance but has been sitting on its hands ever since while the community suffers.

Medical imaging workers passed the following resolution last week during their stop work action:

We HACSU members of RHH Medical Imaging resolve that we will continue our industrial campaign for a market allowance to fix our 30% vacancy rate. We are disappointed that the government continues to delay acting while we grow more burned out and exhausted.

We will continue to work to rule by:

- Taking breaks on time and leaving work on time
- Not working unreasonable overtime

We will also continue to speak to patients about our understaffing issues and tell them about how medical imaging professionals in the private sector and interstate get paid far more than we do.

In addition, if the government does not immediately intervene to address our serious understaffing concerns, we will consider placing a ban on performing work in the new $8 million dollar angiography and CT suite. We cannot be expected to work even harder when we are already at a breaking point and the government refuses to invest in its workforce.

Union members in medical imaging do not take the decision to stop work lightly, but feel they had no other choice until the Health Minister Guy Barnett urgently intervenes to implement a 20% market allowance.

Watch our State Secretary Robbie Moore explain why HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists walked off the job on Wednesday 19 June.

Medical imaging workers launch unprecedented industrial action amid historic high staff shortages - 9 May 2024

HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists have launched unprecedented action amid increasingly dangerous staffing levels, with vacancies in the RHH Medical Imaging Department recently rising to an all-time high of 30%.

“As skilled professionals flock interstate and to private providers that offer substantially higher pay, the Tasmanian public sector is left reeling”, HACSU Industrial Manager Lucas Digney said.

“This is putting the community at real risk, as vital scans are outsourced to private providers and waiting lists grow longer. In just one recent example, a paediatric patient with appendicitis waited for six hours in the emergency room to get an ultrasound.”

Members have been campaigning to receive a market allowance – an additional standing increase to the base salaries of medical imaging workers – to address the chronic recruitment and retention crisis faced by the Department, but key management personnel have discouraged them from directly submitting the application.

As part of the action, members will speak to patients about how underpaid public sector medical imaging workers are and provide them with informational material highlighting their workload and staffing issues. Members will also work to rule, which includes taking all breaks and not working unreasonable overtime.

HACSU medical imaging members warn they will have no choice but to escalate industrial action if the Rockliff government does not urgently intervene to fix the crisis in medical imaging across the state.