(From left) Fay Manning, Christine Heales, Amy Hancock and Poppy Ulett

A CoRIPS success story: All shapes and sizes

Researchers from the University of Exeter have been exploring the way patients with larger bodies experience medical imaging and radiotherapy, as part of a College of Radiographers-funded project. Synergy finds out more

A CoRIPS success story: All shapes and sizes

(Clockwise from top left) Fay Manning, Christine Heales, Amy Hancock and Poppy Ulett

“The project has been called ‘larger bodies in radiography,’” said Dr Fay Manning, “and relates to anyone who perceives themselves as larger.”

“‘Larger bodies’ can, using the medical model, refer to people that might be regarded as overweight using the medical/BMI model, but can also be people who are tall or broad because we know that we’ve got size limitations within our technology,” she added.

Fay, a lecturer in medical imaging, is part of a four-person team based out of the University of Exeter, exploring this under-researched corner of patient experience.

The project, which is funded by the College of Radiographers Industry Partnership Scheme (CoRIPS), is focused on the experience of patients with larger bodies and the impact those experiences have on their relationships with radiographers as healthcare professionals and with the health service.

The idea for the project stems from the experiences of Dr Christine Heales, senior lecturer and deputy head of department.

“The project has been called ‘larger bodies in radiography,’” said Dr Fay Manning, “and relates to anyone who perceives themselves as larger.”

Fay, a lecturer in medical imaging, is part of a four-person team based out of the University of Exeter, exploring this under-researched corner of patient experience.

The project, which is funded by the College of Radiographers Industry Partnership Scheme (CoRIPS, is focused on the experience of patients with larger bodies and the impact those experiences have on their relationships with radiographers as healthcare professionals and with the health service.

The idea for the project stems from the experiences of Dr Christine Heales, senior lecturer and deputy head of department.

A new approach?

Christine explained that, in her experiences as an MRI radiographer, there can be situations where “people come in and they may not be able to fit in the scanner.”

She said: “There are sensitivities around how this is addressed including what approach should we be taking and what language should we be using?”

The project stems from Christine’s “day-to-day experience as a radiographer, and then realising we’ve never asked the question about how people would like to be treated in those situations.”

To help support the research, the team applied for the College of Radiographers funding through the industry partnerships initiative. CoRIPS provides support and funding for research projects undertaken by radiographers at all stages of their career and is supported by the industry partners. Find out more about becoming a partner here.

Following their application for funding, the team received £9,936 to support their exploration of the primary research question: What are the experiences of people with larger bodies in accessing medical imaging and radiotherapy?

The funding enabled the researchers to carry out a UK-wide survey, designed to gather experiences of people with larger bodies who have accessed these services.

Questions in the survey focused on interactions with radiographers and around the practical elements of undergoing examinations and treatment. The funding also helped bring in Poppy Ulett as a student researcher.

While previous published research has been more focused around the equipment itself and related technical challenges, the University of Exeter team wanted to gather data on the patient experience, specifically around how patients’ interactions with medical imaging and radiotherapy made them feel and if there were any longer-term impacts.

Unexpected findings

The team used social media to recruit respondents to the survey and garnered 101 responses, including 92 complete responses, hitting the researchers’ target number.

While the team is still analysing the responses, they have already started to see some interesting findings, including around the concerns of tall patients.

Poppy, a second-year medical imaging student who is supporting the project as a paid intern, explained that she’d not thought about the need to be able to adapt to accommodate taller patients.

“But it’s surprising how many things came up [from the survey] around things like hospital gowns and other equipment that you might not consider, and how that makes taller people feel during the examination.

“It’s something that I think is overlooked quite a lot. It’s not a one-size fits all scenario, so how can we change or adapt?”

Out of the 92 patients who returned complete surveys, around 30 identified themselves as taller people (5 foot 10 inches or over) - a significant proportion of the responses.

On the radiotherapy side of the research, the survey also returned some welcome insights.

From those respondents who chose to report their radiotherapy experience, the responses were generally positive and neutral. However, those patients who experienced medical imaging tended to feedback on this experience in a neutral or negative way.

This was an interesting concept, which started the team on discussions around the key differences between medical imaging and radiotherapy, the biggest of which being around the patient relationship.

Therapeutic Radiographers often build a longer-lasting relationship with patients during multiple appointments, rather than the ‘revolving-door’ of medical imaging. In radiotherapy, there may also be an increased focus on compassion during their initial education, as Therapeutic Radiographers are often with patients during the worst moments of their life, the team said.

The survey also revealed some negative experiences larger patients felt during medical imaging. In the survey, patients had reported fear and anxiety before turning up for medical imaging, while others felt physical pain during the imaging process. One patient indicated that they had been left with a bleeding stomach because of the increased pressure needed to get an image during an ultrasound, while claustrophobic patients struggled to endure being squeezed into MRI machines.

Fay said: “This all just impacts their trust.

“Sometimes you’re holding back tears as you’re reading the comments [from the survey].”

Why is CoRIPS important?

Fay Manning: “This project would not have started without CoRIPs and we think it’s going places. There’s interest and there’s a real deep need for this work. If we’d never had this CoRIPS funding, then we wouldn’t have the evidence base to launch us off.”

“So hopefully this inspires more research in this area.”

Christine Heales: “The CoRIPS funding enabled us to offer an honorarium to Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Representatives and we’ve also been able to employ Poppy through our internship scheme as a student researcher, which makes a real tangible difference.

“We couldn’t have done it really without that funding.”