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Consultant radiographer Barry Stevens achieves PhD
Consultant radiographer Barry Stevens has received a PhD by published works from the University of Salford.
Barry was awarded the PhD for developing an evidence base for imaging interpretation. He wrote a critical, narrative view of nine of his previously published research articles, undertaking a 12-month pathway to achieve this. The pathway featured online sessions that were designed to support his writing.
Barry’s radiography career began at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust in 2011, where he has remained since. During his time at Walsall, Stevens undertook several years of postgraduate study. He is also an accredited consultation practitioner and a member of the Consultant Radiographers’ Advisory Group.
Barry said he was proud of his time at Walsall and thanked the radiology department for part funding his PhD. “Not many radiographers stay at the same hospital and progress from a junior position to a consultant position, especially in the West Midlands where there are many hospitals, so I’m extremely proud to have done that here at Walsall,” he said.
“This qualification would not have been possible if it was not part funded by the radiology department at Walsall. I have always been supported in my post-graduate studies and I think this is testament to the investment in the personal and professional development of staff by the trust.”
Radiographers promoted for ‘pioneering’ imaging work
Radiographers from the University of Exeter have been promoted for their influential academic careers, including “pioneering” work in imaging.
Dr Karen Knapp has been promoted to the role of professor, while Dr Christine Heales has been promoted to associate professor. Both radiographers were promoted within the Department of Health and Care Professions, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.
Both Karen and Christine’s work centres on the use of imaging in osteoporosis, bone health and the development and evaluation of new imaging technologies, improving diagnostic accuracy and enhancing radiographer roles and patient experiences.
A spokesperson for the university said the promotions represented the university’s dedication to forward-thinking education and research opportunities: “These promotions at the University of Exeter bolster the institution’s provision of cutting-edge education and research, supporting career development in radiography and advancing the profession.
“Karen and Christine are pleased to join the growing group of radiography professors and associate professors.”
South West Wales Cancer Centre radiographers to run 10k for charity
A group of radiographers from the South West Wales Cancer Centre will partake in the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k run to raise money for specialist equipment, training and improved patient care.
The 43rd edition of the run will take place on 15 September at 11am. The fundraising appeal was organised by the Swansea Bay Health Charity, the health board’s official charity, to mark the centre’s 20th anniversary.
At the time of writing, the effort had raised £365.
Kate Ashton, oncology service manager at the South West Wales Cancer Centre, said the centre does receive support from the community, but the staff also get stuck in to raise money. “We get a lot of donations from our wonderful patients, their families, their friends, their employers and others,” she said. “But staff do a lot of fundraising too. We have a core group who organise fundraising events. We don’t just sit back and wait for people to donate. We’re doing it ourselves as well.”
Obituary: Former SoR general secretary and chief executive Michael Jordan
By Audrey Paterson and Richard Price
Michael Jordan, radiographer and former general secretary and chief executive of the Society and College of Radiographers, passed away unexpectedly during the weekend of 6-7 July 2024.
He is survived by his wife Ann, and his daughters Gill and Sue and their families.
Hailing from Nottingham, Michael moved to London to train as a radiographer under John Ashworth, a past president of the society, at the Bromley School of Radiography. It was here that he met Ann, who also became a radiographer.
‘More by accident than on purpose’
In 1954, having passed his qualifying examinations, he worked at Brook General and Lewisham Hospitals before joining the society in 1960, first as assistant secretary under Mr K C Denley before succeeding him as general secretary in 1976.
He said he applied for the assistant secretary’s post more by accident than on purpose and recalled that he was attending a fellowship course at Middlesex Hospital when he spotted an advertisement for the position.
There was speculation that John Ashworth would apply, leading Michael to ring him on the pretext that he was thinking of applying. John’s answer made it clear that he was not, and Michael forgot about it until John rang to ask why he had not yet submitted his application, encouraging him to do so.
Michael applied and was successful following an interview by Ken Denley, Ray Hutchinson, Bill Rugg and Noreen Chesney. His initial salary was around £500 per year.
Considerable influence
The relationship with Ken Denley was always formal and, even in the 2020s when talking about his early years, Michael always referred to him as Mr Denley, never by his first name. He recounted, too, that he was taken to task by Mr Denley for calling council member Ernest Higginbottom Ernie.
Michael’s influence on the society was considerable. He was intimately involved in the major changes to education, from the introduction of A-level entry requirements in 1978 and the change to a three-year training period, to degree programmes at the end of the 1980s/early 1990s. Michael took part in the society’s centenary oral history project and, in his interview, he gave a flavour of his role in the long path to degree education.
One of Michael’s early roles at the society was as one of its Whitley Council representatives, taking on the mantle from Mr Denley in 1966. After almost two decades of fruitless negotiations, in 1968 Michael succeeded in reaching an on-call agreement that linked on-call payments to grades and salaries for the first time.
Landmark Limbert case
Michael also represented the society in the landmark Limbert case in the mid-1960s, which led to significant change in NHS disciplinary procedures. Limbert lost his job as a result of unfair disciplinary action that had not followed due, or any, process.
As a result, the society refused to carry job advertisements from the hospital, maintaining an embargo for several months despite a number of appeals from the Ministry of Health.
The society only relented when the ministry confirmed that the lessons learned in Limbert’s case would inform revision of NHS disciplinary processes.
Instrumental to industrial action
In the 1970s much of Michael’s time was taken up dealing with the abysmal pay rates for members and, in the pre-Halsbury Report period, he was instrumental in organising the society’s industrial and strike action, the march by members that he led with the president of the time, John Evans, and the rally in 1974.
As he recounts in The Maturing Years: A History of the Society and College of Radiographers 1970-1995, members were inflamed that a pay increase for other health workers had left radiographers even further behind.
Action groups were formed in a number of the society’s branches with “radiographers determined as never before to ensure that they received a fair deal”. After taking up the post of general secretary on 1 January 1977, Michael oversaw the establishment of the College of Radiographers in the same year, and brought in much-needed expertise from outside the profession to lead the organisation’s industrial relations and education activities.
Subsequent structural reform reduced the burden on council by establishing standing committees with authority to make decisions within policy boundaries.
Stabilising the society
Michael was also instrumental in stabilising the finances of the society, which were in a parlous state because of rampant inflation at the time, and the work associated with industrial action and the Halsbury Inquiry.
The financial situation was not helped by an explosion in the boiler room at the society’s headquarters less than a month after Michael became general secretary, necessitating further expenditure of £12,000 to cover the shortfall in the insurance claim.
In terms of education, the diplomas in nuclear medicine and medical ultrasound came to fruition during the 1970s and, importantly, were open to professions other than radiographers.
At the helm
On the professional front, Michael was at the helm when council took the decision to amend the Articles of Association and repeal article 21 at the 1978 annual general meeting. After more than 50 years, radiographers were once again permitted by their professional body to provide reports, a first step on the road to the development of the now widespread role of reporting radiographer.
In the 1980s, Michael oversaw the purchase of 13 Upper Wimpole Street, a much-needed move to extend the society’s headquarters to accommodate an increasing number of staff and other facilities needed to provide for increasing numbers of society members and expansion of the society’s portfolio of activities to support them.
Progressive, collaborative and, when necessary, combative, Michael was at the helm for the Clegg report, TUC affiliation, the establishment of Med X Ray and the advent of Patrons for the College of Radiographers, among many other events.
Not afraid to speak his mind
He was not afraid to speak his mind to council members or to government ministers and civil servants; for example, his calling out of Patrick Jenkin MP in the 1980s for his criticism of radiographers intent on strike action because they would receive a pay cut if the Clegg report was implemented, and his battle with the chief scientific officer in the 1990s in relation to his opposition to degree education for radiographers.
Michael was a constant presence at the heart of the society’s annual conferences, usually with Ann. His judgement was always sound and one of his favourite stories was about a past president who accused him of ‘nearly making a mistake’.
Eventually Michael retired as general secretary and chief executive officer in 1993 and, at the Presidential Inauguration that year, he was awarded the Silver Medal of the society in recognition of his service to the profession.
He also gave up his time unselfishly – no more so than in the society’s Oral History Project in 2019 – and he was of great assistance in the preparation of the book The Society of Radiographers: 100 Years 1920-2020. A true servant of the profession who dedicated almost 40 years to radiography, a former colleague and a friend who will be sorely missed.
Charlotte Beardmore awarded honorary doctorate from St George’s, University of London
Charlotte Beardmore, executive director for professional policy for the SoR, has received an honorary doctor of science degree for services to radiography from St George’s, University of London.
Charlotte received the award on 24 July, during the university’s graduation ceremony for diagnostic and therapeutic radiography students.
Professor Jenny Higham, vice chancellor at St George’s, Christine Swabey, chair of council at St George’s, and Dr Marcus Jackson, associate professor and professional lead for diagnostic radiography at St George’s, awarded Charlotte her honorary degree.
“I am delighted and honoured to be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from St George’s for services to radiography,” she said.
“This award means so much to me, and to be awarded this on the day both the diagnostic and therapeutic radiography students at St George’s had their degrees conferred, and fellow allied health professionals, Tracy Nichols, CEO of the College of Paramedics, and Preet Chandi, physiotherapist, army officer and explorer, also received honorary doctorates, made this very special.”
Young patient undergoing radiotherapy runs almost 100km for charity
Maya Tohid, 13, has run almost 100km for charity while receiving treatment for a brain tumour at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
From Wilmslow in Cheshire, Maya was nominated for a Pride of Britain award by close to 80 people and received a JustGiving award for her achievement. So far, she has raised more than £10,000.
Maya was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a less common type of brain tumour, after experiencing severe headaches. Following an operation at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to drain the cystic part of her tumour, she was referred to The Christie for 28 sessions of daily proton beam therapy.
Maya completed her treatment in October last year.
“I started doing the challenge because I wanted to do something I hated to raise awareness – I never thought that so many people would be interested,” she said. “I still can’t quite believe it. And I actually like running now. I can go much further than I could when I was ill.”
SoR welcomes announcement of IPEM president-elect
The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) has chosen Mark Knight, chief healthcare scientist at NHS Kent and Medway, as its president-elect.
The IPEM, alongside the SoR and the Royal College of Radiologists, makes up the Radiotherapy Board.
Mark secured 53.7 per cent of the vote over Fiammetta Fedele, who achieved 46.3 per cent of the vote. The total turnout came to 23.2 per cent of IPEM fellows, full and associate members. Mark will take on his new role in October 2024.
Outgoing IPEM president Dr Anna Barnes said: “I congratulate Mark on his election and thank both candidates for putting themselves forward. This election has been a really positive experience for IPEM and I am pleased that so many of our members engaged with it and took the time to vote.
“IPEM is here for its members and I look forward to working with Mark to continue to develop the organisation at this exciting time for us.”
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