United Voice

The LHMU has called for immediate government action to address workforce capacity issues within BreastScreen Australia.

The union – which represents more than 1800 radiographers throughout Queensland – says successive state and federal governments have failed to address the issue for several years.

Women from certain age groups will be at risk due to the recommendation from the BreastScreen Australia Evaluation Report that suggest they be barred from having a free mammogram.

This report also states that radiographers are the main constraint of capacity shortages.  On average it takes 26 weeks to fill a vacant radiography position across Australia. Statistics shows that workforce gaps are forecast to widen further over the coming years with increased demand and population growth.

Queensland Health’s solution to this workforce issue is to initiate a program to engage overseas mammography technicians. This new stream of workforce will have lower qualifications and will be employed to perform sensitive scanning procedures involving dangerous ionising radiation.

Gold Coast Health region radiographer Mariza Liasides said a three-year tertiary course and specialised training in mammography for radiography professionals was essential to ensure the program’s high success rate continued. The program’s success over the past decade has been demonstrated by statistics indicating that breast cancer deaths have decreased by up to 28%.

“At the moment due to workforce issues we can only screen 56% of the target population and we should be closer to 70%,” she said.

"The job also demands technical knowledge and well-developed communications skills as female patients often have a high anxiety level."

LHMU Health Co-Ordinator Jenelle Head said the solution does not lie in the introduction of a lower qualified workforce or restricting the age accessibility to the program.  

LHMU has negotiated a labour agreement with BreastScreen Qld to recruit fully qualified professional radiographers from overseas to assist as an interim measure in meeting this demand.

The LHMU also called on the Government and QHealth to address the accessibility and intake to university to study a Bachelor of Science - Medical Radiation Technology.

“Unless these issues are addressed with some innovation, there will be a situation where some women with an undetected breast cancer may not have access to the service,” Jenelle said.

The LHMU urges all stakeholders to work together to address these challenges that face the program. 

LHMU will host a forum on 26 September to investigate innovative solutions to workforce supply issues and has called on stakeholders to provide research or information that they may have in relation to workforce planning.