$4,000/day + $4,000/week on-call + $1,000 per call-back — structure matters more than copying those dollars.| Term | What it usually means | How pay often works |
|---|---|---|
| On-call / availability | You’re rostered to be contactable (home / hospital digs). | Rad weekly or nightly stipend, or baked into day rate. Tech on-call allowance ($/hr or min period) under award/EA. |
| Recall / call-back / call-in | You actually work after hours — return onsite, or sometimes remote clinical work. | Rad flat per call-back fee, or extra day, or “included.” Tech overtime at penalty rates with a minimum paid period. |
| Remote / digital recall | Advice, image review, PACS work without returning. | Often a shorter minimum (e.g. ~1 hour OT for many NSW imaging awards) — confirm; don’t assume same as physical return. |
| Shift penalties | Rostered evening / night / weekend / PH hours. | More relevant to hourly techs. Day-rate rads usually negotiate the day, not a PH %. |
Radiologist Public staff specialists sit under QH medical agreements (on-call loadings, physical vs digital recall minima at high overtime multiples). Locum FRANZCR work is still usually a day rate — don’t expect the offer to spell MOCA %; ask whether nights are included, paid as extra days, or as call-back fees.
Tech Hospital imaging locums: confirm if pay is casual hourly under the site EA/award or a flat agency rate. Ask: on-call allowance? Minimum hours when recalled for trauma CT / theatre? Does the quoted $/hr already include penalties?
Rural QLD (Roma, Mount Isa, western corridor): solo multi-modality call is common — price the sleep disruption, not just the day list.
Radiologist LHD / hospital locums are typically day-rate via agency or direct. On-call is negotiated commercially; salaried staff-specialist packages (where on-call/recall may be weak or embedded) are a different product from locum weeks.
Tech Public imaging often under NSW Health medical imaging / radiation awards. Pattern to verify on the current award tables:
Regional (Dubbo, Orange, Wagga, Broken Hill, Coffs): ask nights/week and whether ED CT after-hours is expected every night or shared.
Radiologist Day rate dominates locum ads (often $3.5–4k+). Full-time public specialist EAs treat on-call availability as partly salary-embedded and pay recall separately (travel component + time at penalty) — that is not how most locum day-rate weeks are sold. If the hospital wants IR call, get call-backs itemised.
Tech Check the health-service EA. Recall to workplace usually carries a minimum paid overtime block (often ~3 hours in Victorian medical EAs for doctors; imaging EAs differ — read the imaging instrument). Remote recall may be a shorter minimum.
Radiologist Day rate + logistics (flights/accom/car) is the norm, especially WACHS / regional. Call weeks should show either a higher day rate or explicit on-call + call-in lines.
Tech FIFO / Goldfields / Kimberley / Pilbara: solo cover after hours is the risk. Confirm recall minimums, travel time rules, and whether the hourly rate is “all-in” or penalties apply on top.
Many private clinics and some agency contracts sit closer to the national Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027) for employed techs: recall after leaving the workplace is often a minimum 2 hours at overtime rates — unless an EA or contract says otherwise (some EAs use 4 hours).
Radiologists in private outpatient lists: if the ad says Mon–Fri and no weekends, treat call as $0 and none unless the contract adds it. Don’t assume public recall rules apply.