Imaging across generations: meet the mother-daughter radiography team

A s close knit as many radiography teams are, it’s rare that any can claim to be working side by side with their family. But for radiographers Vanessa and Selina Kelly, that is their unique position – the mother-daughter pair have been colleagues at Watford General Hospital for just over a year and a half now, and they couldn’t be happier.

Working together at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has enabled Vanessa to mentor her daughter directly, and given Selina the opportunity to learn with a loving and supportive figure close by.

Synergy talked to the duo to hear more about their experiences with the profession, what it’s like working together and how they approach the profession differently, given the generational gap.

Vanessa

Vanessa, a senior radiographer, was first attracted to radiography when her grandma was having radiotherapy at Mount Vernon Hospital, in the days when patients received envelopes of their X-ray film. Despite being only 14, Vanessa was fascinated by the environment and remained dedicated to the goal of becoming a radiographer throughout her scholastic career.

“The job is different now,” she says. “We had to learn about dark rooms and X-ray films and chemicals. Now it’s all digital. I’ve seen that transformation. I was taught when you went to develop your film you had to sing one verse of a hymn before taking it out, and then it would be done. Now, it’s all digital image intensifiers and mobile equipment.”

Vanessa started her foray into radiography 38 years ago, in 1985 and qualified in 1988 from Guy's Hospital School of Radiography. Her last six months of clinical placement took place at Watford General Hospital, the first ever radiography student to go there. After qualification, she worked at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel for three and a half years and Stanmore Orthopaedic Hospital for 5 months, before getting the urge to return to Watford - where she has remained since.

On her colleagues at Watford, Vanessa says: “It’s a family unit; my work family.

“Everybody works together, and we’ve been so lucky over the years – people have come, people have gone, but the same ethos and values are held by everyone who works here. We really care about our profession and what we do for the patients.

“A lot of people who started off as students that I trained are now modality leads, and they’ve excelled in their careers. It’s fantastic to see that.”

Selina

As a child, Selina noticed her siblings were rather accident-prone. As a result, the family was very familiar with Vanessa’s role at the hospital – the phrase ‘I don’t want to go back to A&E, I just got home’ was uttered many times, she says.

Selina was also diagnosed with scoliosis when she was young, which required frequent hospital attendance for X-rays and “bracing treatment” to ensure her spine remained straight. “When I was seven or eight, we [Selina and her siblings] used to ask if we could bring X-rays in for show and tell, and say ‘this is what my mum does’,” she recalls.

When it came time for Selina to start thinking about university, she found herself gravitating towards radiography – if only to experience what it was like to be on the other side of the patient experience. She began her studies in 2021 at Portsmouth University, and graduated in 2024, before joining Watford General Hospital, where she has been for the last 16 months.

“And I’m so glad I did," she said. “Everyone was so nice, as well! The environment of the whole department was lovely.”

As well as Watford, Selina attended placements at Southampton General Hospital and Poole Hospital.

Working together

Selina is especially glad to be working next door to her mum. Even as a student during her exams, the ability to ask her directly about the subject at hand was a leg-up – not to mention the volume of medical textbooks she had on hand for studying.

As a rotational radiographer, she currently works across all three of West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s sites in outpatients, inpatients, A&E X-ray, theatres and endoscopy. She is also receiving training for CT and interventional radiography, while being involved herself in training students and apprentices. “I enjoy being a rotational radiographer; being able to work in different modalities means each day is different,” she says. “I look to my senior radiographers for guidance and advice to better my clinical practice and knowledge to enable me to run departments and assist others.”

Vanessa expresses her own pride in working alongside her daughter and how fulfilling it felt.

“I never even imagined that one of my daughters would be in the room next door,” she says. “I was walking up and down these corridors when I was pregnant with her. I didn’t think that would ever happen – but I’m really proud. When I see what she’s doing now, it’s fantastic.

Vanessa Kelly with daughter Selina (R) and her twin (L)

Vanessa Kelly with daughter Selina (R) and her twin (L)

“I do tell her what to do sometimes, but I’ll do that at home anyway – she’s used to it! I never had my mum at work with me, and I imagine it must be quite frustrating at times. But we have a professional relationship at work. Only once in an emergency did I hear ‘mum’!”

Ben Thorn, head of Radiology Services at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, works alongside the pair. “I think it’s helped to keep us as a management team more grounded,” he says. “We try to keep the mindsets of our workforce at the forefront of our minds. When you’re stuck in meetings or sending constant emails, you start to lose a little bit of awareness of what’s really happening on the frontline, even though it’s only a few metres away.

“Vanessa is someone who will come and be brutally honest with us – it’s great. Selina, being more junior, perhaps wouldn’t come through to us in the office as confidently, but following her mum's example, will see her confidence build. The two also approach the same tasks in different ways and mindsets, particularly when there are peaks in demand through the service and how they manage prioritising the workload.

“It helps us to recognise that there are different tipping points and leadership styles required for different individuals within the team, all of whom are facing the same problems. Some are wicked problems, some are tame problems and some are critical, which is teaching us as leaders a valuable lesson to be more aware of the impact of our own leadership styles depending on the specific problem type the workforce are facing. It is an absolute honour to be both Vanessa and Selina's manager.”

Seeing the pair working nearby has also helped keep spirits lifted, sharing in the joy of family. Ben says when he sees a smile on Vanessa’s face after a quick chat with her daughter, it reminds him of the bigger purpose as to why everyone is there.

Vanessa’s role has changed and developed over the 34 years since she began at the hospital. She started as a rotational radiographer, before spending 11 years mainly doing mammography. During her time at Watford, she has also been a student coordinator and has worked in CT and MRI. In the last two years, however, Vanessa has been based in the X-ray department, doing the imaging she loves most: plain film and dental radiography.

As a senior radiographer Vanessa supports her clinical lead with the smooth and efficient running of the department, teaching students, apprentices, junior staff and, of course, her daughter. “Since starting my training 40 years ago at Guy’s Hospital School of Radiography, I can honestly say every day is a learning day! I love to learn new techniques and new ways of problem solving – ensuring my patients receive the best possible care.”

An evolving profession

Over the years between when Vanessa first began her role and when Selina joined her, the profession has gone through some major changes. The biggest of which, Vanessa says, is technology – but she also points to role extension as something that Selina is seeing to a much greater degree than when Vanessa first started. She explains how her first job was very much under the control of the radiologist; radiographers made no clinical decisions. New radiographers now have more responsibility, more training and more learning opportunities. “There was so much we didn’t do,” Vanessa says. “It’s so much bigger now, and there’s so much more opportunity for radiographers. There are also so many more patients. The ratio of radiographers to patients has not kept up.”

While that amount of pressure was concerning, she adds, she was confident that Selina would be able to find her own way in the role.

Selina herself has long been aware of the challenges associated with radiography, but she’s confident that, with the support of her peers and her mum, she’ll be able to match up. “It can be stressful,” she admits. “But we’re so lucky. We have such a lovely team of people here. Even if your day is chaotic, you’re working with nice people. Everyone comes in to help each other. I don’t think that will change.”

Now, Vanessa says, she’s expecting to go into partial retirement and scale back her time in the hospital a little. She’s not worried though – she has every confidence Selina will be there to take up the reins.

Find out more about diagnostic imaging with the SoR

The SoR provides various resources for members working across diagnostic imaging modalities, including guidance on best practice, oversight and support on the continuing development of high-quality services for patients around the UK.

Access these resources online here: https://www.sor.org/learning-advice/professional-practice/diagnostic-imaging-pathways

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