Patients will suffer unless urgent action is taken to address a shortage of radiologists in Scotland, a new report has warned.

The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) says the workforce is 31% short-staffed, with another 141 full-time consultant radiologists required.

However there is significant variation across the country, with the gap rising to 43% in North East Scotland.

The situation is likely to worsen as a fifth of consultant radiologists are expected to retire within five years and there are insufficient trainees to fill the looming gaps.

Without improvements, the numbers of radiologists are expected to grow by just 34 by 2024 – less than a quarter of the number required.

Across the UK, the overall picture is not much better, with a 35% shortage of radiologists in England, 37% in Wales and 27% in Northern Ireland.

The report particularly highlights a “severe shortage” of interventional radiologists in Scotland – specialists who perform minimally invasive surgical procedures through small incisions in the body as well as interpreting medical images.

An insufficient number of breast radiologists in Scotland is also likely to increase rapidly over the next five years, with many specialists approaching retirement and fewer newly qualified consultants choosing to specialise in this area.

However the RCR says if the money spent on outsourcing services – which has risen from £3.5million to £14.5million over the past five years was invested internally, the number of radiologists could be boosted by 50% and “most issues would be addressed.”

The data was gathered from reports submitted at the end of last year, which it says “underlines the extent to which services were struggling before the advent of covid-19”.

More than 63,000 patients have been waiting for more than six weeks to receive a key diagnostic test such as a CT scan or MRI, according to figures released this week.

Professor Mark Callaway, RCR radiology workforce lead and Medical Director of Professional Practice for Clinical Radiology, said radiology services had stepped up during the pandemic despite the shortages.

But he added: “Our workforce shortages are being felt again as services move to return to ‘normal’ rates of work, while facing a backlog of waiting patients and less capacity due to covid-19 infection control measures, and with winter pressures looming.  

“The new RCR reports detail particular local trends, however, they all reveal concerning gaps in interventional radiology provision and forecast meagre workforce expansion without concerted mitigation.”

He urged governments to fund improvements in NHS imaging as part of the recovery plans from covid and for “future pandemic safeguards.”

“Without a properly resourced radiologist workforce, patients will suffer due to patchy access to life-saving interventional expertise and we will see a return to escalating imaging waits,” he added.

 

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