HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists have today 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.