The U.K. Society of Radiographers (SoR) has emphasized the urgent need for extra support to implement the government's plan to create community-based diagnostic hubs in England.
A significant part of the Health Secretary's Elective Recovery Plan would involve the use of sites where imaging and other testing facilities are located outside of hospitals -- a move welcomed by Richard Evans, the SoR's chief executive.
"Community Diagnostic Centres are a great idea and can certainly play a part in the provision of capacity needed for the recovery. However, until there are sufficient staff across the entire imaging community, development of CDCs and other welcome initiatives cannot deliver the improvements we all want and that the public deserve," he noted in a statement issued on 8 February.
Evans said that reducing waiting times for cancer treatment and diagnostics would put radiographers in the middle of proposals to reduce wait times, yet the proposals focus on doctors and nurses and not radiographers.
