Radiation unit staff get €1,800 for longer hours

HSE deal: Radiographers and radiation therapists in hospitals are to receive an additional allowance of €1,800 annually in return to agreeing to an extension in the normal working day.

Under a new deal, hospital units will be staffed by radiographers and radiation therapists from 8am until 6pm rather than from 9am-5pm at present.

The move forms part of an initiative by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to increase the efficient use of services in hospitals and improve access to diagnostic facilities for patients.

Although the opening and closing times of the units in hospitals will be extended under the move, the normal working week of individual radiographers and radiation therapists will remain unchanged.

A HSE spokeswoman said yesterday that the new €1,800 annual allowance would be paid to radiographers, radiation therapists, clinical specialists and radiography services managers.

The Government and HSE has argued recently that improvements in access to diagnostic facilities could alleviate some of the delays experienced by patients in hospital A&E units.

The HSE spokeswoman said the new initiative to extend the normal working day would provide for more ease of access for the public to radiography services in hospitals. She said the new opening hours from 8am could also allow for more patients to be seen on a planned basis.

The HSE believes the initiative will result in more patients being seen annually.

The Government has been critical in recent times over what it sees as blockages in access to services in hospitals caused by inflexibility in traditional work practices.

The recent report for the Government on the problems in hospital A&E departments, carried out by consultants Tribal Secta, also calls for reforms in work practices and for greater access to diagnostic services.

In a speech to her party conference in Limerick at the weekend the Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, again called for more efficient use to be made of hospital resources and in particular of diagnostic facilities.

Ms Harney said that as part of the overall healthcare reforms, hospitals must use expensively provided equipment more efficiently. "For example, X-ray machines in busy hospitals should routinely be used for patients during lunch-breaks, in the evenings and at weekends. The rules and work practices that applied in the past have to be reformed," she said. The Tánaiste also said the taxpayer had the right to expect practical improvements "without a big price".

Ms Harney indicated that the public health services would also look to the private sector for the provision of diagnostic services such as X-rays and CT scans.

"Whatever works for the patient has to be the rule for us all," she told the conference.

The HSE spokeswoman said the new work practice changes agreed would form part of the next benchmarking process due in the public service next year. She also said the impact of the initiative would be monitored by a new review group which has been established by the HSE.