Andy Burnham found himself in the hot seat at this year's TUC as SoR representatives lined up to grill him on his policies.
The Society’s vice president Sue Johnson, UK Council member Pam Black, and rep Tracey Taylor joined with other healthcare union leaders to quiz Burnham on service reform, staff rights and the ‘quality’ agenda at a meeting on Wednesday 16 September.
Tracey Taylor said: “It was a small group and therefore felt very inclusive. The health secretary shared his vision for health and responded to questions raised by the unions. He was keen to emphasise the need to work together to continue improving the quality of patient care and staff satisfaction.
“The unions raised that there were problems with funding and the effect this had on teams and services. It was pointed out that commissioners are already starting to cut back in anticipation of the next spending review. Burnham replied that this was frustrating as it is not something that needs to happen immediately.”
The SoR then took the opportunity to put their own questions to Burnham. Sue Johnson explained: “I stated that radiographers were a highly skilled group of staff able to provide advanced skills, but were often thwarted by the lack of support from radiologists who we needed to provide support for our training.
“I was very clear that we didn’t replace radiologists as we would have a narrower scope, but that we could provide a more cost effective service in many areas.”
According to Sue, the minister was "clearly concerned", and suggested that if the delivery of a quality service is being compromised by some, then a cornerstone of government policy will fail.
“He asked for an example, so I quoted image reporting,” Sue continued. “I told him there was evidence that we could report to a standard as high as doctors, but that there was limited success in implementation. He then asked how much reporting radiographers could pick up and we estimated 60-80%, at which point he raised his eyebrows!”
Sue went on to explain that this was just one area where radiographers could add value and provide a cost effective service.
“On the whole it was a very positive meeting. The secretary of state appears to be trying hard to understand the issues, but also seemed to realise that reduced funding was going to impact significantly, and therefore needed careful management. He seemed extremely responsive to our particular question and I would hope we can capitalise on this by following it up with a letter.”
Tracey added: “Burnham came across as keen to work with the unions and he recognised that times were hard and that frontline staff were key to delivering the government’s health agenda.”
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