Any radiographers on here?

[CillaBall]

I’m working in the NHS at the moment and have done for many years, I’ve worked in general practice as a healthcare support worker. I am looking at doing a degree and becoming a registered professional (I have built up the confidence to finally do something) I did consider nursing for a long time but I don’t really want to do Long shift work so I was looking at other roles I could do, radiography has peaked my interest as I believe this could be day time work, also would fulfill my want to work with people and help them, plus I’m good with tech.
Anyway, wonder if anyone would share their experience of their job and if they could go back would they do it again?

It’s increasingly difficult to find 9-5 work in diagnostic radiography. It may be more available in therapeutic radiography, but I’m not sure.

Its not generally something that I’d recommend to friends or family to do, but there’s worse jobs around.

Why do you think that If you don’t mind me asking punk?

Because all hospitals with an A&E need 24h X rays. As a radiographer you will be expected to be on the rota and do evenings and nights and weekends.
Even relatively small quiet hospitals will give you busy nights with lots of Chest X rays and other imaging in the night and evenings.
Its not a 9-5 job.

Hi I’m a radiographer. Currently working through an agency but had permanent positions in the past. At the moment this job is really in high demand compared to when I first qualified which was more than 10 years ago now. You can ask for any hours you want now. A few local hospitals around me have a lot of part timers, you can negotiate any hours you want. These local hospitals have use a lot of agency staff hence they are happy to have any permanent staff to fill any gap they can. It has been like this for many yrs now and they are using more and more of agency staff.
I now have children through being an agency staff (thought it would decrease my chance of getting a job this way but it was fine), it is working really well around child care for me.
It depends on where you are if there is a high turnover, they would be more willing to negotiate a contract with you.
Good luck

Procedures using radiology are done at night and at weekends too. On-calls for these hours used to be the thing, and were mostly urgent/emergency procedures. But nowadays even more investigations etc happen ‚out of hours‘ so I’d expect weekend and evening work to be part of a rota. My son recently had a non-urgent investigation on a Sunday morning.

I'm a Therapy Radiographer. A lot of departments are 9-5 with the occasional late shift/weekend on call etc. It's a great job for getting to know patients and really feeling like you're making a difference to people's lives. I love my job and can't imagine doing another one (I retrained so can compare!)

Therapeutic Radiography (Radiotherapy) is generally a Monday - Friday 8am-6pm role. Diagnostic radiography is a much more 24/7 role unless you specialise post qualification in something like ultrasound.

DD is a two year qualified radiographer working in a large city teaching hospital.

She has spent the last two years doing the “grunt” work that the newly qualified get. The shifts are tough and 9-5 impossible in her trust.

7 days a week, 365 days a year, shifts over a 24 hour rotation. In her trust usually 12 hour shifts days or nights. She has recently managed to negotiate four on four off, so that’s four 12 hour days four days off two 12 hour days and two 12 hour nights on a four weekly rotation.

You might have better luck doing 9-5 as an occupational therapist, but don’t count on it.

You couldn’t ask for any hours at DDs trust, not a chance. But then she is in a major university city, so many of their radiographers come to the city to study then stay in the trust. You get what you are allocated with little flexibility.

Sorry posted too soon. Remember as a radiographer you work in A&E (24 hours) theatre (24 hours if a major trauma unit centre like DD) mobile portables (so pushing your enormous machine round the wards at 6AM before the doctor’s rounds).

Maybe a therapeutic radiographer over a diagnostic one would be the way to go, although there aren’t as many openings.