From the Guardian today:

The waiting lists for diagnostic tests, including cancer scans, is at a record high in NHS England, with doctors warning of a “staggering shortfall” of clinical radiologists. Figures published on Thursday reveal the diagnostic waiting list stands at 1,658,221 – twice what it was 10 years ago. 

^{https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/14/staggering-shortfall-of-nhs-staff-as-record-number-of-patients-wait-for-tests}

From Public Health Scotland, on 27 February 2024:

The total waiting list size (number of ongoing waits) for the eight key tests combined was 144,234. This represents a 5% (-7,417) reduction from the previous quarter-end when there were 151,651 ongoing waits, and is the lowest figure observed since quarter-ending December 2021 (141,262). 

^{https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-diagnostics/diagnostic-waiting-times-waits-for-key-diagnostic-tests-27-february-2024/}

All things being equal, with 10 times the population, you might expect NHS England then to have a waiting list of around 1.44 million but it was 1.66 million, 15% higher.

Why might that be?

This?

In the Guardian 3 October 2023:

Tens of thousands of patients will be unable to have scans on Tuesday when radiographers join consultants and junior doctors in strike action, hospital bosses have said. Radiographers across England will take industrial action from 8am, which will limit the chances of patients using cancer, A&E and maternity services getting a scan or X-ray.https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/03/radiographers-strike-on-tuesday-will-stop-thousands-in-england-getting-scans

There’s no mention of Scottish radiographers in the above report.

On September 3, the Daily Record had a report of a threatened radiographer strike in just one hospital (Hairmyres) with this gleeful comment:

Radiographers threaten strike action at Scots hospital days after Humza Yousaf boast

Humza Yousaf boasted his government had managed to avoid “a single day of strikes in our NHS” after junior doctors in England confirmed a walk-out.https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/radiographers-threaten-strike-action-scots-30861278

Sad? Desperate? Both.

I can find no sign of a radiographer strike anywhere in Scotland in recent months or years.

Did they settle and ‘our’ media ignored it?

On 7 July, the Herald did have:

The Society of Radiographers (SoR) trade union announced its members at 43 NHS trusts voted to walk out between 8am on July 25 and 8am on July 27.https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/national/23639512.radiographers-strike-48-hours-later-month-pay/

Sad? Desperate? Both, again.

Back to the Guardian’s ‘Tens of thousands of patients will be unable to have scans’ prediction.

So, in Scotland, using Reporting Scotland editorial guidelines of applying an English survey to Scotland, that’s

Thousands of patients will be able to have scans thanks to another Humza Yousaf intervention to avert a health sector strike!

No?

The Society of Radiographers: Scotland Council? All quiet.