Whanganui Radiography Redirects 179 hours of Admin Back to Clinical Work Through Rosterlab

The Whanganui radiography department freed up more than 179 hours of clinical time annually by adopting RosterLab, a leading provider of automated scheduling software designed for healthcare.

By replacing manual scheduling processes, the department is reducing administrative burden and enabling highly trained clinicians to spend more time on patient care.

Manual Scheduling and Lost Clinical Time

This New Zealand account uses “radiographer” for an imaging professional. US terminology includes radiologic technologist for X-ray and CT work, and MRI technologist for MRI work.

Before implementing RosterLab, a senior MRI radiographer spent at least 40 hours (a full working week) creating each 12-week schedule using Excel spreadsheets, print outs and paper-based leave request forms.

This amounted to over 170 hours per year spent on administrative work, not including additional time managing leave requests, shift swaps, and individual scheduling queries. The process was not only time-consuming but also diverted valuable clinical expertise away from patient care.

A Self-Scheduling Research Project Sparks Change

The collaboration between RosterLab and the Whanganui radiography department began with a self-scheduling research project led by Unitec. The study explored whether self-scheduling could improve fairness and autonomy while maintaining safe staffing levels.

With RosterLab, schedule generation time was reduced from 40 hours down to under 4 hours. Managing shift changes became fully automated through a clinician-facing app, saving an additional 35 hours.

In total, more than 179 hours of highly skilled clinical time can now be redirected from administrative work back into patient care.

At the same time, the system successfully accommodated staff preferences, particularly high-priority requests, while ensuring compliance with union requirements and maintaining appropriate staffing levels. This provided the radiographer in charge of scheduling additional peace of mind that these critical staff scheduling needs were met.

Empowering Staff Through Fairer Schedules

Beyond efficiency gains, RosterLab has improved the day-to-day experience for staff.

By enabling clinicians to have greater input into their schedules, the system supports improved work-life balance, increased autonomy, and a more transparent and equitable scheduling process.

The move also eliminates outdated processes such as handwritten forms, paper-based swap sheets, and complex spreadsheets, replacing them with a modern, streamlined digital solution.

Moving Forward with Confidence

Following the success of the study, the Department of Medical Imaging has adopted RosterLab as its new scheduling solution.

Mike Petersen, Associate Clinical Manager of Radiography, shared his excitement about this development: “I’m super excited to finally get started with RosterLab! Ever since our self-scheduling study, I’ve been eagerly waiting for the day we can use RosterLab to generate our work schedules. We love the fairness it brings and how much time it saves.”

Watch the webinar recording with Mike Peterson, where he shares more detailed outcomes of implementing RosterLab

Fairer Schedules, Better Outcomes

Whanganui’s shift toward intelligent scheduling reflects a broader movement across healthcare to reduce administrative burden, support clinician well-being, and improve workforce efficiency.

By streamlining complex scheduling processes and honouring staff preferences, RosterLab enables departments to operate more effectively, ultimately allowing clinicians to focus less on paperwork and more on delivering high-quality patient care.