Forging a strong network: the SoR Ultrasound Advisory Group

Members of the group update on their essential work during Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month

It’s that time of the year again – October is Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month (#MUAM) and the Society of Radiographers Ultrasound Advisory Group (UAG) wanted to use this as an opportunity to provide an update on just a few of the things that have been happening or they have been involved with this year.

Meet the new UAG chair – Cat Lee

Cat is an advanced practitioner at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. She has provided a profile to help you get to know more about her

My introduction to medical imaging was in 2002, while working as an X-ray porter. I had probably spent too much time at the beach in my hometown of Sidmouth over the summer and hadn’t decided what I wanted to do or which university to go to. I was inspired to apply for a degree in radiography through clearing. I arrived a week later at the then University of Wales College of Medicine (now Cardiff University) with just a suitcase of clothes and a saucepan – rather underprepared and homesick, but I soon settled in.

After qualification I enjoyed various positions across the imaging modalities and in different hospitals, eventually advancing my practice as a sonographer working across several trusts. Additionally, as a Territorial Army radiographer, I was deployed to a field hospital in Afghanistan as second in command of a department, which exposed me to responsibilities and experience not found in the NHS at an early stage in my clinical career. I have previously led and managed a general and obstetric ultrasound department in a busy tertiary hospital as a superintendent sonographer. I worked in the commercial sector of ultrasound for a short period, where I gained knowledge in ultrasound technology, research and innovation and also learned how the industry works. My passion, however, has always been rooted in my clinical work so I returned to the NHS where I continue to thoroughly enjoy direct patient care and the responsibility that comes with my role.

I am now a trainee consultant sonographer, training in interventional imaging modalities, which includes biopsies and drainages using different modalities. Alongside this I am hoping to gain cross-sectional reporting skills to support interventional procedures. Although I have already obtained an MSc in medical ultrasound, I am supporting this new clinical activity with an MSc degree apprenticeship in advanced clinical practice, which I finished this summer.

I live in the beautiful South West of the UK in Devon, where I get to enjoy the wonderful countryside on my doorstep. While work is very important to me, I know that keeping well relies on taking time away to unwind. With a young family it can be hard to ring fence time for myself, but I try to do this by attempting to knit and cross stitch, and reviving the dying art of Morris dancing in the Morris side I belong to – Beltane Border Morris.

Being part of the UAG has been an invaluable experience, and I would recommend anyone to apply to join any SoR special interest groups or advisory groups that are relevant to their own scope of practice. My membership has allowed me to keep up to date with best practice and share this knowledge in my own department and wider. I have forged some strong networks with key stakeholders in our profession, alongside some inspirational peers, and my tenure gives me a good insight to how our professional body operates. I feel very privileged to have been invited to become chair of this group, and look forward to working for our members through our work plan.

Short on time. Need CPD on the go?

Have you looked at the CPD snippets yet?

The UAG has been sharing its knowledge and expertise by providing short CPD learning pieces. They appear on the news section of the website, but are then linked in the ‘CPD articles’ section of the ultrasound webpages.

In August they shared six key points highlighting features of testicular torsion diagnosis with ultrasound and associated references and reflection prompts. These can be used to evidence ongoing CPD as part of your professional development.

Previous topics include avoiding work-related musculoskeletal disorders, ultrasound features of liver disease, uterine artery Doppler and UKHSA ultrasound gel guidance. More CPD snippets are being developed so keep a lookout for new learning opportunities.

What’s the latest guidance from the SoR?

In the last year the SoR has published more guidance on a range of topics relevant to ultrasound. We will be showcasing some of these on our social media sites throughout the month, including guidance on:

In collaboration with BMUS we have also developed guidance for recruiting sonographers without a CASE accredited award. This will be published on 1 October, so check out the document library for this.

Study day: ‘Advancing Your Career as a Sonographer’

The UAG organised a study day in April 2024 to help sonographers consider their career development goals and enhance their clinical practice. Topics covered the four pillars of advanced and consultant practice and included a professional update, the education and career framework (exploring the different levels of sonographer practice post-preceptorship from enhanced to advanced practice), report writing, medico-legal cases, artificial intelligence, medicines management, demystifying research and critical appraisal and imposter phenomenon.

Feedback suggested that all were “fantastic speakers and brought about so much knowledge and so many insights”. Sonographers who attended planned to review report writing across their departments and introduce audit programmes, consider how they could get involved in research teams and work towards meeting the four pillars of advanced practice.

Angie White, ultrasound practice educator at the NCL Imaging Academy in London, said:

“I have been a sonographer for nearly 20 years – I love ultrasound, and have loved ultrasound from day one of my training. Over the last few years, however, I have been feeling the effects of career fatigue (along with many others in our field!) I booked on to the ‘Advancing Your Career as a Sonographer’ study day in April with the hopes of gaining insights to improve my practice and extend my scope (and renew my passion). It did not disappoint! What a fantastic study day – all topics presented were very relevant and interesting, and provided resources and tools in which to expand my career. One of the best parts of the day was networking with other like-minded individuals who have great aspirations for their future. I am still glowing from the impact of this incredible day, and feel immense excitement for my future in ultrasound.”

Behind the scenes

While we may not always be visible in the work we do at the SoR in relation to sonographers and sonography, there is a lot going on. Sometimes we don’t showcase all the work we are doing on behalf of sonographers, because it is long-term work that doesn’t always have a tangible output for some time. Our campaign and commitment to achieving regulation for sonographers is a top priority.

Sonographer regulation

The SoR continues to highlight sonographer regulation at every opportunity. We are in regular talks with other stakeholders, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), NHS and Department of Health and Social Care colleagues, keeping the topic high on the agenda. The previous message from government was that there was no appetite for new regulation; however, we continue to pursue this, particularly as we have a new government.

Most recently the PSA put out a call for feedback on risk, when undertaking their Standard One assessment of the Register of Clinical Technologists. The SoR provided extensive feedback on the changes within sonography education and workforce and workload pressures, in addition to providing evidence of harm to the public from the lack of statutory professional regulation of sonographers earlier this year. The evidence provided by the SoR appears to have had some impact. The assessment report in August 2024 has suggested that the four UK governments should review whether PSA-accredited registration is enough to provide appropriate patient protection or “whether additional regulatory oversight might be needed”. That said, if any government review did suggest statutory regulation of sonographers, this would still be a lengthy process as it could take years to complete the required legislative change, but the SoR will now request meetings with the PSA and secretary of state for health and social care to consider the next steps in response to this report and work with our colleagues in other organisations to pursue all options.

Sonographer education

The Consortium for the Accreditation of Sonographic Education (CASE) consists of volunteers including members’ representing the College of Radiographers (CoR). CASE has an important role in ensuring minimum standards of education, training and assessment of sonography learners is met. This is increasingly relevant as there are more new courses being developed at different academic levels (BSc and MSc level). If you are planning to undertake an ultrasound course or send a colleague on a sonography course, you can check that the course is CASE accredited on the CASE website.

Most of the ultrasound elearning for healthcare – clinical imaging modules, developed by the CoR in partnership with NHS England, have been updated. Some of the obstetric sessions have been updated and further updates are planned over the coming year. This is a great way to check your current knowledge, update knowledge, learn about new areas of practice as part of your own CPD or support learners in the early stages of learning ultrasound.

Maternity and neonatal services

As part of the independent working group, initially a group commissioned by NHS England following the publication of the Ockenden report in 2022, the SoR continues to share sonographer concerns and good practice, so we welcome any examples of effective MDT working and obstetric ultrasound career development opportunities that benefit service users and improve morale and team working across maternity and neonatal services. Please do get in touch if you have examples that can be shared: GillH@sor.org.

Sonographer workforce

It is well known that the shortage of sonographers is impacting waiting lists, leading to potential delays in diagnosis and treatment. SoR representation for sonographers covers a range of areas, including working with the NHS teams in England and Wales to support the recruitment of highly skilled sonographers to work in the NHS and the community diagnostic centres. Initiatives to boost the number of sonographers entering the workforce then continuing to develop their skills and advance their careers if they choose to are key to increasing newly qualified staff as well as retaining experienced sonographers. The trade union and industrial relations team within the SoR has been lobbying for improved pay and conditions for staff working in the NHS and private practice, as well as providing workplace support and guidance for sonographers when needed.

Development opportunities

Members of our UAG have also been taking advantage of the support and training available for members. Sonographers are encouraged to consider formal leadership or research mentoring, the essential training for managers scheme, applying for research grants and/or conference funding or joining relevant special interest groups. Here two members of the UAG give an overview of their recent experiences:

Gillian Coleman

Experience of the Formal Radiography Research Mentor scheme as a mentee – Gillian Coleman

As a sonographer, I had limited experience of research within the clinical context but I had a passion for developing my knowledge and skills in this area. After working in an academic role for some time, my desire to be involved in research became greater. I had what I thought was a great idea for research and I had written a narrative literature review on the topic, but felt that I didn’t have the skills to explore this further.

After encouragement from my line manager I was successful in applying for a place on the College of Radiographers Formal Radiography Research Mentor (FoRRM) scheme in June 2022. The aim of the scheme is to increase members’ involvement in research to support increased quality outputs. I had no idea when I applied that I would have such an amazing experience. I was allocated Ruth Strudwick as my mentor. Ruth is not within the ultrasound field and has a wealth of experience to support me on my research journey. I had a very clear idea of my research and what I wanted to achieve in developing a research proposal. With the support of Ruth, I managed to achieve so much more with a full research proposal, research ethics approval, application and successful funding bid for the College of Radiographers Industrial Partnership Scheme (CoRIPS). I commenced my research, completed data analysis for stage one of a mixed method study and submitted abstracts to two national conferences for dissemination.

The FoRRM scheme has supported my journey in more ways than I could have imagined. It provides opportunities for networking and education sessions. My favourite was the session where I learned that I need to ‘eat the frog’ (based on a quote from Mark Twain, it means to get the most important or most difficult task done first thing in the morning – everything else is easy after that). I developed new professional links with other FoRRM mentees, mentors and professionals involved in running the scheme. I overcame a lot of challenges and tested my resilience to achieve so much in that short space of time. I also managed to commence the journey to PhD by published works. Ruth was an absolute rock and supported me to develop both professionally and personally.

For any sonographer interested in developing the research journey, I can recommend taking this step and applying for the FoRRM scheme. When starting out on the research path, finding a mentor who can support and guide you through the process can be pivotal to ensuring success. This was just the start of my research journey!

Ellen Dyer

Essential training for managers – Ellen Dyer

In January 2023 I was fortunate enough to be given a place on the SoR essential training for managers course. I was the only sonographer there, but it was a great experience.

At the beginning of 2020 I was appointed lead research sonographer for the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction Study (POPS2) based at the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. POPS2 is a large study aiming to recruit 4,500 nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies. The study includes a nested randomised controlled trial at 36 weeks, which aims to validate a previously devised test for late-onset pre-eclampsia.

When I took the position with POPS2 I was already an experienced obstetric sonographer but had limited management experience. I have always enjoyed a challenge and becoming a manager of a small group of research sonographers seemed a natural next step for me. My first months were certainly challenging, as recruitment to the study started when the pandemic arrived.

In the subsequent months and years, I have learned on the job how to manage – I have certainly made a few mistakes and perhaps spent a little too long over-analysing how I could do better. I felt like an impostor in a management role. This is why, when the opportunity to sign up for essential training for managers with the SoR arose, I leapt at the chance.

The course was online over two consecutive days. Before starting the training we were asked to think about two things we wanted to gain from the course. This was a useful activity in itself. The small number of attendees on the course and the emphasis on group work ensured it was interactive, with lots of opportunities for networking and discussion with other attendees. We quickly realised that the doubts and challenges we all faced were very similar.

The session on how to manage change was particularly useful as it talked about empowering staff, developing a shared vision and the role of managers to lead that vision. There was also a session led by one of the society’s industrial relations representatives; this helped me to understand the role of the manager as both the employer and employee’s advocate. I now appreciate the importance of seeking assistance from human resources, accurate record keeping and the benefits of compassionate leadership.

We also discussed aspects of employment law. One of the key take-home messages from this session was that any changes (even removing the historical paid tea break) cannot be implemented without consultation – useful knowledge given the ever-increasing demand for scans within the NHS!

The course finished with a session led by Gill Harrison on impostor syndrome. All the attendees on the course had impostor syndrome to some degree, which manifested itself as doubt in our own abilities, but Gill taught us ways to overcome this doubt.

I would like to thank the SoR for a wonderful course. I certainly feel it has helped me to meet the challenges that being a manager brings. I have worked with a wonderful team of sonographers and without them POPS2 would not exist! Thank you all.

More about the Ultrasound Advisory Group

The Ultrasound Advisory Group (UAG) provides the Society and College of Radiographers with advice regarding strategic direction for the profession and the appropriate support to deliver service improvements within the interprofessional environment of ultrasound. The remit of the group includes:

Promoting the SoR | CoR’s policies, strategies and publications within the context of ultrasound to the benefit of services, practitioners and patients.
Promoting membership of the SoR by ultrasound practitioners, enabling practitioners and services to benefit from the SoR | CoR’s established leadership in medical imaging, radiation therapy and oncology.
Providing information and advice to support SoR | CoR policy and strategy development.

Find out more here

Image credit: Getty Images