Retired Radiographers Members’ Day

A joint meeting between the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) and the British Institute of Radiology ( BIR) was held at the BIR on Friday 28 October.

This took the form of a scientific meeting organised by Jean Barrett from the SCoR and Dr Adrian Thomas of the BIR.

A number of radiographers spoke on a variety of topics, ranging from the history of radiotherapy, crystal ball gazing and the changing face of PET.

Pat Beaumont gave a whistle-stop tour, looking at the scientific developments which have led to the use of PET, from the earliest discoveries to the present day. Using case studies and hybrid imaging, Pat explained how PET has become invaluable in many disease processes.

Dr Adrian Thomas then gave an historical talk, mainly looking at the King George Hospital, and some BIR and radiographic connections.
Alan Needham, a Radiotherapy Radiographer form Leeds Teaching Hospital, spoke about the use of stereotactic body radiotherapy. This is a relatively new way of delivering radiotherapy that is creating much excitement within the oncology world due to its potential to improve disease control and patient outcomes for a number of tumour sites.

The afternoon session looked at crystal ball gazing and where the professions are likely to be moving towards in the future. Radiographer Sandra Conn spoke about developments within MRI, new techniques due to higher strength magnets and also looked at the safety issues regarding some of the 9 Tesla machines now being used in research.

Dr Manpreet Singh Gualati followed by explaining the advances within interventional radiology and cross-sectional imaging.
We were very fortunate to listen to so many knowledgeable lecturers in their field and also very proud that 50% of the speakers were radiographers.

We are all looking forward to the next event.

Ann Pollard