The Paediatric Special Interest Radiographers from South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland have scooped the Society’s prestigious UK Team of the Year Award.

Joanne Clayton, a senior radiographer at Ulster Hospital, nominated the group. She said: “The team has worked hard to put the best interest of the child at the forefront of imaging practice and has addressed many of the recommendations from professional bodies for the improvement of imaging services for children and young people.”

The team are Alyson Lattimer, quality development co-ordinator and team lead, and paediatric specialist radiographers Shirley Parke, Lindsey Fleming and Ruth Livingston.

The team also draws upon the knowledge and expertise of several multidisciplinary partners including Dr Joanna Turner, consultant radiologist; a play specialist; child protection nurse specialists; Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (RBHSC); and the Quality and Effectiveness Department at Ulster Hospital.

When the team got together two years ago, it set out with very clear aims:
• Create a more child-centred environment;
• Improve good practice to enhance the existing x-ray service;
• Establish a link with radiology in RBHSC in order to benchmark existing good practice;
• Consult with children to obtain their views on the service, thereby adhering to the UK government’s patient focus/public involvement agenda;
• Seek guidance from the Association of Paediatric Radiographers for the improvement of imaging services for children.

Since then, the team’s impressive list of initiatives and achievements – too long to list here in full – is testament to their dedication, focus, creativity, professionalism and genuine commitment to providing children with excellent care.

Among their many accomplishments, they have developed a Children’s Charter for the service; introduced new training in safeguarding children which addresses current legislation; ensured that all radiography staff had received specialist training within a year; made facilities, equipment and the environment more child-friendly; developed books, posters and leaflets for children and their parents/guardians; and introduced specially-designed stickers to reward children post-examination.

These improvements and initiatives were all achieved without funding and often the work was done at home, in the team’s own time.

Team leader Alyson Lattimer, says: “We’re very shocked to have won the award as we didn’t really consider these things as achievements; they were all small steps in the right direction. We’re quite modest in Belfast!

“We’re really looking forward to going to London, and I’m delighted for the girls as it’s not often you have your work recognised in this way by so many.”

UK Radiographer of the Year 2009

“Valerie is a thoroughly professional radiographer who is highly committed to delivering the best service to the patient...”

Those were the words written about Valerie McCollum, this year’s winner of the Society’s
UK Radiographer of the Year Award.

Valerie works at the Belfast City Hospital in Northern Ireland and is responsible for a team of 14 radiographers who provide a service across two departments.

As well as participating in recruitment, appraisals, procurement, maintenance and induction programmes, she works hard to ensure that staff training needs are met. Most of her staff have now acquired a Postgraduate Certificate in CT and regularly take part in carrying out audits.

Valerie is also a stickler for clinical governance and is a member of the clinical trials team, helping to develop the trial protocols for CT. She sees all the targets for imaging are met in CT by ensuring capacity is fully utilised. She also participates in the CT on-call rota so that she can understand the pressures her staff face when delivering the service.

During her 30-year career,  Valerie has acquired extensive training in a wide range of CT machines and in 1994 she was the first radiographer in Northern Ireland to obtain her Postgraduate Certificate in CT from University College, Dublin.

Valerie has lectured widely, co-authored numerous papers and articles, and in 2008 had a poster accepted for RSNA’s annual meeting – the world’s largest radiologic and medical imaging exhibition and scientific assembly.

Alongside her day job and CPD activities, Valerie finds time to play tennis, walk and cycle and has recently completed a 26 mile trek over four peaks to raise money for charity – with a sore knee!

Valerie was nominated for the award by her manager, Christine Robinson. According to Christine, the recent fundraiser is typical of  Valerie, who is always thinking of others less fortunate.

Christine commented: “Valerie is continually maintaining her CPD and encouraging her staff to do the same. She treats her staff like an extension of her family, giving praise where due and reprimanding if necessary. Only recently one of them said to me that they respected her as much as their own mother.

“As she has such high standards she expects this to be reflected in her team. She is in early, stays late, always thinking ahead to tomorrow to ensure everything is ready for another busy day.

“To me she is a shining example of all that a good radiographer should be; professional, conscientious, patient-focused, supportive of staff, friendly, approachable, flexible, reliable and, above all, a good friend to everyone.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Team of the Year Awards

Overall winners and winners in Northern Ireland: Paediatric Special Interest Radiographers, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland

Eastern region: Radiographic Team, Cambridge & Huntingdon Breast Screening Unit

London: Interventional Radiology Team, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children

Northern region: Image-guided Radiotherapy Introductory Team, James Cook University Hospital

North west region: X-ray department, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital

Scotland: Cross-sectional Team, Radiology, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness

South east region: Breast Imaging Centre, Churchill Hospital, Oxford

South west region: Beacon Radiotherapy Team, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton

Wales: Clinical Tutors, Bangor University

Yorks & North Trent region: Leeds & Wakefield Breast Screening Service

Radiographer of the Year Awards

UK winner and winner for Northern Ireland: Valerie McCollum, CT Department, Belfast City Hospital

Eastern region: Laura Sheehan, West Suffolk Hospital

Midland region: Jean Coulsey, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham

Northern region: Linda Wilson, Out-patients X-ray, Sunderland Royal Infirmary

North west region: Leslie Robinson, University of Salford

South west region: Keren Anstey, The Beacon Centre, Taunton

Wales: Pat Evans, The North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre, Glan Clwyd Hospital, Rhyl

Student of the Year

Radiotherapy: Carol McDonald, Cardiff University

Diagnostic: Nick Barlow, University of Leeds

All the winners of this year's Radiography Awards, which are sponsored by Fujifilm, will be presented with their awards and prizes at a ceremony at the House of Commons on Thursday 12 November.

Image The Paediatric Special Interest Radiographers from South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland: Shirley Parke, Lindsey Fleming, Ruth Livingston and Alyson Lattimer,   with some examples of their hard work.

Posted: 27/10/2009