Promoting healthy lifestyles with the SoR’s public health group

Radiography plays a pivotal role in enhancing public health, particularly since radiographers are often among the first healthcare professionals patients encounter in their healthcare journey. 

Preventable diseases impact people’s lives and place considerable strain on healthcare systems, increasing demand on both primary and secondary care services. A key principle of public health, health promotion and the strategic plans within the NHS, such as the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England, is that prevention is preferable to cure. Improving population health is possible if the focus remains on addressing modifiable risk factors (such as smoking and obesity), making healthy choices more accessible and early intervention. Together, these measures lower health inequality, empower individuals to take charge of their health and reduce the strain on our acute services. 

National screening services in the UK allow for health problems to be found earlier, with imaging modalities involved in breast screening and abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programmes currently. 

Radiographers can and should also apply subject matter knowledge to promote healthy lifestyles with each patient contact. These aspects of healthcare can fall short, with decreased uptake in screening invitations by the public and a lack of know-how and confidence in promoting healthy lifestyles with patients during examinations. In the past year, only 70 per cent of people attended their breast screening appointments¹, while healthy lifestyle conversations and health promotion during examinations often do not occur².

By exploring how radiographers can address urgent public health concerns, we can align our expertise with specific population health needs to achieve specific desirable outcomes. For example, in the UK, radiographers are making significant strides in public health through proactive health promotion efforts, such as advocating for smoking cessation among patients receiving head and neck radiotherapy³. Being aware of ‘making every contact count’ (MECC)⁴ and having very brief interventions, by utilising the readily available online resource to support developing knowledge and understanding around talking to patients and asking others about their health and wellbeing, is vital to these outcomes. 

An MECC interaction takes just minutes (maybe even only one minute) and is structured to fit into and complement existing engagement approaches. The AHP UK Public Health Strategic Framework 2025-2030⁵ sets out the priorities for this, and highlights the requirement to understand the relevance of public health and reducing health inequalities to practice, as well as the need to incorporate prevention and behaviour change interventions in accordance with professional standards^5,6. 

A non-imaging-centric approach to public health radiography involves utilising AI-driven radiographic data analytics to create detailed epidemiological maps and measures that combat the morbidity and mortality burden of specific diseases⁷. This highlights the field of radionomics and its integral connection to public health radiography (PHR). For instance, the texture analysis of radiologic images related to particular types of cancer can yield vital prognostic information, such as recurrence rates⁸. 

Such analysis not only offers insights into the disease’s behaviour, it can also, when combined with the genomic characteristics of the affected population, predict disease progression, relapse and response to specific medication by individuals in that population, different from persons of other genomic characteristics.