RADIOGRAPHERS are to strike with consultants and junior doctors in a triple-hit aimed at the Conservative conference.
The X-ray specialists will walk out on October 3 to coincide with the annual Tory party rally.
GettyRadiographers are planning to join junior doctors and consultants to strike over pay[/caption]
Senior Tories claim the coordinated action over pay is deliberately timed to cause maximum impact on PM Rishi Sunak’s first conference as leader.
Brendan Clarke-Smith said: “This is yet another politically motivated union strike.
“It’s got nothing to do with putting patients first or helping to cut NHS waiting lists.”
He urged all three unions to “think again, accept the Government’s generous pay deal, and call off the strikes”.
Up to 20,000 radiographers — who do X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds and radiotherapy — will strike for 24 hours.
They also walked out for two days in July.
Junior medics and consultants will be out for three days from October 2 despite NHS waiting lists at a record 7.6million, one million of them needing scans.
More than 900,000 appointments have been cancelled due to strikes.
The Society of Radiographers says the five per cent pay rise plus £1,655 offered is “inadequate” compared with the 6.5 per cent for other workers in the public sector.
Spokesman Dean Rogers said striking was not an “easy decision”.
He said radiography professionals provide quality care “despite working long hours for pay that has been falling behind average wages for years”.