Pregnant women and cancer patients could face “life-threatening” delays because of a growing shortage of sonographers, experts have warned.
The Society of Radiographers (SoR) said the vacancy rate for sonographers is 24.2% across England, rising to 38.2% in some areas.
The census also showed that about one in every 13 (7.6%) sonographers are planning to retire within the next year.
Sonographers conduct ultrasound scans which are essential to pregnancy care and are also used in the diagnosis of cancer.
Pregnant women are offered a scan when their baby is 12 weeks old and again when the baby is 20 weeks.
“Hospitals try their very best to get the three-month and five-month antenatal screening scans done on time,” said Katie Thompson, SoR president and a practising sonographer.
“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.”
On scans for cancer diagnosis she added: “When a person is feeling unwell, their first investigation is often an ultrasound scan.
“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, 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.”
The new SoR census showed that the highest vacancy rates for sonographers were in the south east of England, where almost two in five posts are vacant (38.2%).
There is also a 34.6% shortfall in London and three in 10 (30%) posts in the North West are vacant.
But in the North East and Yorkshire there is a shortfall of 11%, the SoR said.
Ms Thompson added: “Training new sonographers takes quite a while, so increasing numbers can’t be done very quickly.
“The fact that numbers are dropping shows that the number of sonographers being trained isn’t keeping up with demand and hasn’t kept up for a long time.
“We’re still waiting for the Government to publish its NHS workforce plan. They’ve put out their cancer plan but the workforce plan should be integral to that.
“You can’t say that you’re going to invest in all these new scanners and open all these community diagnostic centres unless you’ve thought about the professionals who are going to conduct the scans and provide patient care.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “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.
“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.”
