Two radiographers who had not been near an X-ray machine for 20 years have returned to work in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, writes Marjory Inglis, health reporter.

Muriel Bedwell and Anne Orchiston are the pioneers of a new programme encouraging health professionals who have not used their skills for some time to rejoin the NHS workforce.

The programme includes physiotherapists, speech therapists, dieticians, occupational therapists and others now referred to by the umbrella term allied health professionals (AHPs).

Both women left work to have children. With their family circumstances having changed, they were interested in returning but were concerned they would not cope with modern machines and practices.

“I just thought it would be so different with everything computerised now, so I came back for a week to see what it would be like and the basic radiography was the same,” said Anne.

Both women said they were supported by colleagues, and the return-to- work programme gave them lots of hands-on experience without pushing them into situations before they were ready to cope.

Muriel said she had life skills that helped her deal with people.

She ran a guest house in Perthshire for 20 years before coming back to work in Ninewells. She said that having children of her own helped when she was required to perform X-rays on anxious children.

“It’s just people skills, but as a returner you have far more to offer,” said Muriel.

“You have gone through things like having children, being in hospital yourself for operations, whereas newly qualified young girls in their 20s haven’t usually been a patient and seen what it’s like from the other side.”

One of the biggest changes she noticed is in the age of the patient population.

“When I started patients at 60-years-old were put in geriatric wards,” said Muriel. “Now we are getting far more patients who are in their 80s and older.”

Jan Williamson, seconded from the Scottish Executive to establish the returners programme in Tayside, knows that it’s not just the patients who are getting older. Half of the radiographers in Scotland are over 50, and an ageing work force is a problem in other specialties. People have to be found to take the places of those who will be lost to the professions in future years.

Locally, the physio- therapy workforce has a different problem.

With many of the physiotherapists being women of child-bearing age, there are regular problems of shifts being short staffed because so many physiotherapists are on maternity leave and departments have difficulty finding alternative cover.

The return-to-work programme is all about encouraging people who have experience in the caring professions to come back and refresh their skills to work in the NHS.

Jan said that the programme identified AHPs’ training needs and teamed them up with a mentor who would support them as they rejoined the NHS work- force.

Anyone interested in returning to their profession should telephone 01382 632319.