A U.K. committee addressing the country's physician shortage has confirmed that clinical radiology consultants will now be added to the shortage occupation list, according to the U.K.'s Royal College of Radiologists (RCR).
The number of radiologists currently in training is insufficient for predicted future demand unless training numbers are increased, the RCR said. The college is pursuing several strategies to address this shortfall, including a special session at the upcoming ECR called "Working in the U.K." and promoting the concept of radiology networks to make the best use of a limited workforce.
"The very severe shortage of radiologists in the U.K. means that, at a time of acute pressure on medical imaging services in all four countries, there are too many vacant consultant radiologist posts," Dr. Giles Maskell, RCR president said in a statement. "We hope that now that clinical radiology is officially listed as a shortage occupation it will be easier for some particularly hard pressed radiology departments to fill their vacant posts."
The RCR was responding to a statement by the U.K. government's Migration Advisory Committee on the physician shortage. The committee offers independent, evidence-based advice to the government on migration issues, and was commissioned in September 2014 to carry out a partial review of the shortage occupations list, according to the RCR.
