Is anyone here a radiographer?

[Crystalblue13]

Hello 😊
I was just wondering if anyone here works as a radiographer and do you enjoy it? What sort of shifts do you normally do?

Thank you very much x

I have a family member that is one. She does enjoy the job- it's all she ever wanted to be.

The shifts are tough though. It's an ever changing shift pattern with long hours. Plus they are chronically short staffed due to people going on long term sick/mat leave.

It is stressful. Some of the stories are pretty gross. Sometimes it's really upsetting. But they love their job.

Thank you for that, that’s really helpful. It sounds really good apart from the shifts really

I'm one and just about to leave for work. I work part time now but when I qualified I worked nights (13 hour shifts) , long weekend days (11 hours) and lates (8 or 10 in the evening) I do enjoy it, it's very varied and I work with a great team of people.

I did general radiography for a while but now I specialise in something, so I essentially work 9-5.

I like my job but I hate my work iyswim

Thank you 😊 it does seem like an enjoyable and interesting career. But I’m still torn between radiography and physiotherapy.
Sorry Rock what do you mean by you like your job but not your work?

My DH is a radiographer. When he first qualified he worked some pretty horrific shifts - 24 hours on call in large London hospitals - but he wanted to do this for the experience. He’s since worked at various levels in different types of hospital and has done additional training so that he now manages a department at a small private hospital and has negotiated his hours to four long days, with all weekends off.

He moans about work obviously but I don’t think he would have stuck with it for 25 years if he didn’t enjoy it to an extent! Amongst his colleagues with children there seems to be opportunities for part time work as well, and agency work on a more temporary basis. It seems to me as an arty type very scientific and complicated but if that’s what you’re good at then its a good career!

What I mean is - I love helping people. I get a bit of one to one with patients. But most workplaces are the same these days - not enough staff, high sickness, work politics.

Radiography is great though. You can do so much with it. You can be a therapeutic radiographer or diagnostic.

You can choose to go into research, teaching, sales. You can specialise in something or go into management.
It is varied. day to day it’s not always the same. NHS wise you’re probably going to experience staffing issues but you can also work privately.

You do need to be registered though. And at the moment this is a bone of contention because they’re raising the fees of this in the uk.

Sorry. I went off on a tangent. I do like radiography. It’s too late for me now, but because of certain aspects of my job (emotional, physical, work politics), if I were to do it (life) again, I would probably pick something different to study. But I feel that’s probably a symptom of poor staff morale/management than the actual role /job.

Thank you Rock. I understand what you mean. I too love helping people and want a career that makes a difference. But I know what you mean about the NHS. I used to work as healthcare assistant on th wards and we were so short staffed. :(
Also I found night shifts very hard. That’s why I’m also looking at physiotherapy.

Thanks Shannon, that’s great to hear about your DH, he has obviously done very well :).
I have a 5 year old daughter so a bit unsure about the shifts.

I have a relative who is. She worked shifts for the first couple of years then specialised and works 9-5

Thanks all. 😃 do you know which specialisms are 9-5? X