Lessons from Australia on practice, education and workforce development: global insights shaping UK breast imaging

By Dr Noelle Clerkin PhD, breast service manager and radiography advanced practitioner

By Dr Noelle Clerkin PhD, breast service manager and radiography advanced practitioner

‘Inspire, innovate, implement’ were the themes framing the BreastScreen Australia Conference 2026 – and these three words resonate strongly with current priorities for radiographers and breast imaging services across the UK and Ireland.

The 2026 conference, which took place in Brisbane on 4-6 March, brought together global experts committed to excellence in early detection, offering concrete lessons for practice, education and workforce development, and providing a platform for UK radiography to lead key conversations.

The journey to Australia was more than a long-haul flight – it was an immersion in a professional culture that felt both familiar and refreshingly different. From the moment I arrived, I was struck by the warmth, authenticity and straightforward honesty of colleagues across Australian breast services. Their hardworking ethos and unshakeable patient-centred focus created an atmosphere where robust debate, shared problem solving and genuine collegiality came naturally, reminding me of our common focus: the person in front of us, whether we call them a patient, a client or, as in Australia, a consumer.

Alongside the conference, I had the opportunity to present elements of my doctoral research, exploring how radiographer-led optimisation of mammographic technique, image quality and interpretative practice can support earlier, more accurate cancer detection. By linking these findings to advanced practice in the UK, I was able to show how research-informed competencies can be built into future curricula, so that tomorrow’s advanced practitioners are equipped not only to ‘do more’, but to ‘detect better’ – combining technical excellence with critical reasoning to minimise both missed cancers and avoidable recalls.

Inspire: collaboration in action

From start to finish, the visit was inspiring, demonstrating what multidisciplinary collaboration can achieve. The Sydney Breast Clinic, under the leadership of Professor Mary Rickard, exemplifies how thoughtful workflow design and evidence-based practice can elevate both service quality and patient experience, showing how carefully structured pathways can reduce variation and support consistently high-quality imaging.

Spending a day in their beautiful clinic, located on the 12th floor of Bathurst Street and overlooking the historic Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building, I was exposed to their unique vantage point – not only in geography but in imaging. Their cohesive implementation of contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and 2D imaging places them among leaders in the field. I led discussions with radiologists, surgeons, physicians and service managers from Australian breast services, using these exemplars as a springboard to explore how similar principles – including structured competency frameworks – might be adapted within the NHS.

A view of the Wheel of Brisbane from the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

Noelle outside Sydney Town Hall en route to the Sydney Breast Clinic

Noelle and Professor Mary Rickard presenting at the speaker dinner at Madam Wu

International engagement: sharing the UK story

During the BreastScreen Australia Conference week, I was also invited as a guest speaker at a dinner and presentation evening in Brisbane, hosted by Sydney Breast Clinic and the radiology online learning platform DetectedX. My presentation focused on competency-based training and advanced practice for radiographers in the UK, illustrating how structured pathways support progression into specialist and consultant roles that enhance service quality, efficiency and patient care.

I also drew on my doctoral work to illustrate how robust competency-based education in image optimisation, lesion visibility and complex case analysis can translate directly into improved cancer-detection performance. By mapping research findings on to practical capabilities – such as handling challenging breasts, integrating multimodality information and supporting AI-augmented reading – the discussion highlighted how education and practice development can work together to narrow the gap between ‘possible’ and ‘delivered’ early diagnosis.

The event, attended by Australian breast service leaders from across the states, created space for in-depth, multidisciplinary debate – connecting private and public breast services and imaging educators around a shared vision for the breast imaging workforce. The human side of these exchanges – conversations over meeting tables, workstation screens and shared meals – was as formative as any formal session. Teams that are technically excellent yet deeply grounded in kindness, pragmatism and a clear sense of responsibility to their patients reflected what my own team strives for in Northern Ireland.

Implement: from ideas to service change

Implementation is where inspiration and innovation either succeed or stall, and the conference repeatedly returned to the question of how services can translate research findings, AI tools and new models of care into sustainable, day-to-day practice. In that context, I was proud to represent the UK and Ireland, leading discussions that unpacked the radiography advanced practice framework established within the NHS and its role in strengthening workforce capacity and service sustainability.

Using examples from breast imaging, I outlined how advanced practitioners and consultant radiographers support image interpretation, lead quality improvement, drive protocol development and help to embed new technologies safely. I also highlighted how doctoral-level inquiry – whether focused on positioning, image quality, interpretation or patient experience – can and should feed directly into advanced practice role design, competencies and assessment, closing the loop between research, education and frontline practice.

From left: Tonia Nuttal (DetectedX), Jill Miller (Sydney Breast Clinic), Professor Helen Frazer (St Vincents Hospital Melbourne), Professor Mary Rickard (Sydney Breast Clinic), Noelle Clerkin, Professor Patrick Brennan (University of Sydney/ DetectedX), Dr David Speakman (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre)

Global appetite for advanced practice

Constructive, multidisciplinary discussions followed about how advanced practice pathways could be introduced or adapted in jurisdictions where such models are not yet embedded. Colleagues were keen to understand not only the scope of practice, but also the educational routes, governance arrangements and support required to make these roles successful.

By guiding several of these conversations, I was able to ensure that radiographer perspectives remained central and that dialogue between Australian breast services and UK counterparts moved beyond theory and into practical next steps. These exchanges reinforced that advanced practice is not simply about doing ‘more’ but about doing ‘differently’ – using radiographer expertise strategically to enhance access, quality and continuity of care, and using research-driven education to continually refine how effectively we detect and diagnose breast cancer.

A practical framework for the profession

For members of the Society and College of Radiographers, the message from BreastScreen Australia 2026 can be distilled back to those three guiding words:

Inspire: seek and share examples of excellent practice, whether in Sydney, Belfast or within your own department, and be willing to lead those conversations across disciplines and borders.
Innovate: engage critically with emerging technologies and new models of care, ensuring they are harnessed to improve outcomes and equity rather than add burden, and align them with evidence from radiographer-led research on optimising detection.
Implement: translate ideas into tangible improvements through advanced practice, education and collaborative leadership, embedding change into everyday practice and ensuring that doctoral insights and frontline experience continuously inform one another.

‘Inspire, innovate, implement’ becomes more than a conference theme; it becomes a shared professional commitment, underpinned by the generosity and authenticity of colleagues worldwide and focused, always, on detecting cancer earlier and caring better for every person who walks through our doors.

More about breast screening and the SoR

The SoR provides a range of professional guidance and support relating to breast screening, from policy documents to networking opportunities through the Breast Imaging Special Interest Group.

Launched in 2024, the Breast Imaging Special Interest Group aims to promote and develop best practice to optimise breast cancer detection and delivery across the UK. The group also promotes study and research among all mammography associates, assistant practitioners and radiographers who work in breast imaging.

Find out more about the special interest group here.

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