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Winners of prestigious World Radiography Day poster competition revealed
The winners of the SoR's prestigious World Radiography Day poster contest have been announced, ahead of the celebration of the day on 8 November 2024.
This date marks the anniversary of the discovery of X-radiation by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895.
Radiography professionals worldwide celebrate World Radiography Day (WRD) by promoting radiography as a career and as a “vital contribution to modern healthcare”.
Each year the SoR holds a WRD poster competition, with the winning posters then distributed to members to be put up in departments around the country.
The winners are:
- Joel Jasper Morales
- Lucy Clough
- Kishar Griffith
- Adriana Serrano
- Faye Merley
The WRD packs also feature the designs of runners-up, who had their artwork transformed into colouring-in pictures. The society is encouraging members to “download and get colouring!”
This year, members will receive a WRD pack directly, as part of mailing for the SoR's Insight journal. This has been changed from previous years, when members ordered packs, following two motions carried at the Annual Delegates Conference. WRD packs should have landed alongside copies of the autumn 2024 edition of Insight last month.
To learn more about WRD and how members can get involved, and to download the posters for yourself, click here
Obituary: Sheila Stanger
By Avril Shand
It is with great sadness that we write this obituary for Sheila who was a wonderful, inspirational woman, and good friend to so many.
Sheila Stanger trained in radiography in Glasgow and her outstanding attributes and abilities were apparent from the outset when she qualified as the prize-winning student of her year.
Initially she worked locally before going to Canada for a spell, however the pull of family brought her home and she took a position in Knightswood Hospital.
In the 1970s, she became lead radiographer at the cardiology unit of the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, and established the 'cath lab' there. Her field of practice expanded and she was soon the superintendent radiographer of accident and emergency and orthopaedics in the 'Western'.
She fully recognised, practised and taught, the necessity of quality assurance in its many aspects from regular equipment checks to repeat image analysis. She had great technical ability and was an empathetic teacher: she was a superb nurturer of individuals, guiding them, seeing ability in those who didn’t even see it in themselves and always thinking the best of everyone. She was hugely respected by her fellow staff, patients, doctors and throughout the hospital and profession.
She joined the Society of Radiographers in the 1960s and was not only a strong supporter of this body but an active participant – firstly as a member of the Scottish Committee and then in the 1990s she held the positions of secretary, vice chair and then the Scottish chair.
Sheila was therefore a very active part of successful study meetings that the Society organised and the Glasgow hosting of the combined Society and Royal College of Radiologists annual conference in 1988.
Her career continued in the Western when she became the imaging superintendent, with responsibility for all the departments. She had many qualities that made her a tremendous success in this role.
One such quality was her ability to bring calmness and resolution to any contentious or volatile situation, not only solving problems but also enhancing the profession’s position with other PAMs, pulling the department together as a team and often acting as adjudicator.
Long before Excel spreadsheets were in the workplace, she was a wizard with rotas, be that the shift rota or the annual leave rota: this was a skill she also utilised in her church running the car rota for numerous decades! She was a sympathetic and helpful counsel, with a rock-solid perspective of fairness and was much respected for that quality too.
In 1989/89 she rose to the request for assistance and led her team to Lockerbie, rising to all the challenges that such a devastating event presented.
She retired from her last position early in the millennium only to be called back and to continue “at the helm” until “the watch” was handed safely to her successor.
Her career spanned significant changes in radiography from wet film developing, through automatic processing with silver recovery, daylight processing, computed radiography or “CR” to the digital era.
She was proactive in dealing with all the issues of these developments, always with the best interests of patients, and of staff, at the forefront.
Throughout her adult life she was extremely kind and caring – of both patients and staff.
Beyond her professional life she devoted herself selflessly to the care and support of others – family, friends or members of the wider community.
Outside of work Sheila had many interests. She was an enthusiastic skier, often in Europe with friends or her young niece and nephews. She enjoyed travel and, on finally retiring, supported and encouraged by her family, she went on a solo trip across the world to Australia and New Zealand.
She was a keen walker and a member of at least one rambling club. She enjoyed photography and her garden and was a member of the local flower club. Her lovely personality gathered a great number of friends of all ages and walks of life, with whom she was very good at keeping in touch and was always having coffee or lunch with one or more of them. She is very sorely missed.
Our condolences go to her family who she loved and cherished dearly and likewise by whom she was much loved and cherished.
(Image: Sheila Stanger)
Thousands raised for breast imaging and diagnostic services at Grimsby Hospital
North East Lincolnshire’s former mayor has raised thousands of pounds for patients on Grimsby Hospital’s breast unit, supporting imaging and diagnostic radiography.
Councillor Ian Lindley, operating department practitioner at Grimsby Theatres, was elected Mayor in 2023 – and chose the Pink Rose Suite as one of the charities to raise money for through the Health Tree Foundation.
Over the last year, Councillor Lindley has been part of fundraising events that garnered more than £5,000 overall – £4,000 of which will go to the breast unit.
A charity race night at Swagger in Scartho raised £3,000 for the Pink Rose Suite. Meanwhile, a 24-hour dance-a-thon raised £2,000, with half going to the unit and half going to Sunflowers Children’s Action Group – the other charity Councillor Lindley was fundraising for.
He said: “The dancing challenge was particularly tough but it went really well. There were people popping down throughout it to support me, so a big thank you to everyone who came along.”
Richard Evans on the AXREM Insights podcast: ‘Celebrate the power we have as a community’
Richard Evans, CEO of the Society of Radiographers, was interviewed last month (12 September) on the AXREM Insights Podcast.
Conversation with hosts Sally Edgington and Melanie Johnson focused on his journey into radiography, his viral encounter with popstar Dua Lipa and what the SoR’s priorities are for members going forward.
Richard also shared his perspective on the future of the profession as technology advances and roles expand, and why he believes radiographers will be able to adapt.
Starting more than 40 years ago in the NHS as a hospital porter, Richard was first posted in the X-ray department – where he got a firsthand look at radiography in action. That made up his mind that he wanted to study radiography.
Interviewers also touched on his viral celebrity moment with Dua Lipa, which he described as being “exactly as it looks”.
Radiographer shares ‘refreshing and intense’ MRI quality improvement project
In June 2023, the West of England Imaging Network (WoEIN) held a launch event, introducing a new approach to facilitating and supporting transformation projects.
Becky Nichols, clinical lead radiographer in MRI at Yeovil District Hospital, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, attended the WoEIN event. She explained that the event covered many topics, including using quality improvement techniques and coaching to promote culture change and sustainability.
The first project undertaken by the network, sponsored by Cathy Walsh (lead radiographer, WoEIN) and led by Megan Wilkins (quality programme lead, WoEIN), was to look at the current provision of MR imaging in the emergency Cauda Equina Syndrome (CES) pathway within the network area.
The aim of the project was to provide evidence of the current state of provision of MRI for emergency CES, identify obstacles to improvement and look at opportunities for workflow redesign.
(Image: Sitting left to right – Becky Nichols, Vafa Taleban, course facilitator Poornima Ravichandran.
Standing back row left to right – Megan Wilkins (WoEIN quality programme lead), Ross Cook, Marie Little, Kristy Fraser, Cathy Walsh (WoEIN lead radiographer))
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