The Society of Radiographers’ 2025 Ultrasound Census was covered in national media, with Society president Katie Thompson featuring in the coverage.
On Sunday (29 March), the SoR published leading statistics from the upcoming ultrasound workforce survey, which revealed that the overall sonography vacancy rate had increased to 24.2 per cent. News outlets engaged with the survey and zeroed in on the effects of the vacancies.
Taking place between December 2024 and January 2025, the survey gathered information on how many working sonographers there are, the number of sonographer vacancies and more to get a picture of the larger workforce structure.
A total of 161 responses from 142 ultrasound providers across the UK were collected for this survey, coming in at more than double the 2019 response rate. After data cleansing, 153 responses were included in the analysis.
Mainstream coverage
Major mainstream news outlets such as the BBC, The Independent, The Daily Mail and Sky News picked up the story. Much of the coverage led with the risk to pregnant women and cancer patients due to the shortage of sonographers, as was reported in the survey.
As well as being quoted throughout each article, Katie appeared in aBBC iPlayersegment titled ‘Sonographer Shortage Causing Longer Waits for Ultrasound’.
Working sonographer Katie highlighted the potential risk of the shortage, emphasising that urgent pregnancy scans could be affected by a lack of sonographers.
“Hospitals try their very best to get the three-month and five-month antenatal screening scans done on time,” she said. “But when there aren’t enough staff, prioritising those scans has a knock-on effect on more urgent later foetal growth scans, which in some cases need to be done within 24 or 36 hours.
“Departments end up struggling to fit in patients who need these emergency scans.
“Sometimes hospitals pull in sonographers from other areas to keep the antenatal services going. But then that’s at the expense of those other services.”
Ultrasound in cancer diagnosis and treatment
Katie went on to add that the effect on cancer patients could be similarly catastrophic.
“When a person is feeling unwell, their first investigation is often an ultrasound scan,” she continued. “And then follow-up care after cancer treatment often takes the form of regular ultrasound scans.
“The government’s recent cancer plan spoke about increasing testing and reducing waiting lists. But sonography is one of the beginning points for people being diagnosed with cancer.
“With the current workforce shortfall, it’s going to be very hard to decrease waiting times. And if cancers aren’t picked up when they should be, that can have an effect on the patient’s outcome.”
Progress made in addressing shortages
The Department of Health and Social Care has responded to the reports, stating that it understands the pressures caused by the shortages.
"We recognise the pressures facing diagnostic services, including the sonography workforce, and we are taking action to ensure the NHS has the skilled staff it needs to meet rising demand and deliver timely care to patients,” it said.
"We have already taken action to expand services for patients, rolling out new community diagnostic centres and expanding opening hours, keeping patients away from busy hospitals and cared for in their local communities."
Workforce shortages continue to be a problem
The SoR has long been outspoken about the effects of workforce shortages. Last month, the organisation welcomed the government’s National Cancer Plan, but emphasised that attention must be paid to workforce planning to feasibly meet the plan’s goals.
“Where the cancer plan falls short, however, is in its lack of workforce planning,” Richard Evans, CEO of the SoR, said. “The plan barely mentions radiographers, despite our key role in diagnosing cancer and planning and delivering radiotherapy.
“While we welcome moves to bring healthcare into the community, we have yet to see a fully funded staffing plan for community diagnostic centres. Opening more centres without investing in new radiographers will simply take existing radiographers away from acute hospital departments – which are already chronically understaffed.”
(Image: Katie Thompson speaking at her presidential inauguration, by Eva Slusarek)