Professional
World Radiography day 2023
On 8 November, radiographers across the world marked the anniversary of the discovery of X-rays. Here’s how SoR members celebrated
WRD coincides with the anniversary of the discovery of X-rays, by Wilhem Röntgen (credit ZU_09/Gettyimages)
WRD coincides with the anniversary of the discovery of X-rays, by Wilhem Röntgen (credit ZU_09/Gettyimages)
SoR CEO Richard Evans, presenting at the Radiography Awards on World Radiography Day
SoR CEO Richard Evans, presenting at the Radiography Awards on World Radiography Day
World Radiography Day 2023 took place on Wednesday 8 November, with radiographers around the globe marking the celebration in their own unique ways.
The awareness day, which takes place on the same date each year to coincide with the anniversary of the discovery of X-ray technology by Wilhelm Röngten in 1895, is organised and promoted by the Society of Radiographers.
Sponsored by Elekta this year, World Radiography Day (WRD) aims to inspire radiographers and promote the profession to the wider world. Radiographers were busy sharing their ideas on social media, using the hashtag #WRD2023.
The Society marked the occasion in various ways, including an advert in the print edition of The Guardian newspaper to promote radiography to the world, and also hosting its traditional poster competition, with WRD packs being sent out to radiography departments ahead of the day.
This year, WRD also coincided with the Radiography Awards, hosted by the Society, which took place at the prestigious Royal Aeronautical Society in London.
Trusts across the country marked the celebration in a host of unique ways, from cake baking, to setting up their own stands to help raise awareness. Janice Boak, clinical tutor, and her team at Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, set up a stand to help raise awareness of the role of radiographers. Janice said: “We had great fun talking to passers-by and handing out free pens, sweets, and stickers” .
“Our students worked hard and did the department proud, representing the profession”
Thailay Roscoe, diagnostic radiographer at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, also set up a stand at the main entrance of their site.
Thailay said: “We had a stand at one of the main entrances with three radiographers and three third-year diagnostic students from the University of Salford. The aim of our stand this year was to raise awareness of how much we do as radiographers.
“We got people thinking by having a competition asking ‘how many imaging tests were conducted in England between July 2022 and June 2023?’ with the closest answer winning. The prize was a £10 coffee voucher, so uptake was brilliant at just over 200 entries!Management also treated both staff and patients to plenty of chocolates, sweets, cupcakes and a giant personalised cookie.”
“Overall, the day was filled with sweet treats, radiography-themed word searches and a resounding sense of surprise at how many examinations we actually do”
Stephanie Rose, from Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre in Liverpool, said: “As a newly opened CDC our centre is helping relieve the scanning pressures of various hospital trusts in the north west and providing patients with much quicker access to MRI, CT and ultrasound scans and reports.
“I’m proud to be part of a skilled team who have helped lots of patients so far get their diagnosis quicker all while working with radiographers, sonographers and imaging assistants who always put our patients at the heart of all we do.”
Here Synergy has pulled together a gallery of WRD celebrations from across the country and around the globe.
Celebrations from around the UK
Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham
Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle
Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University
School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
University of Bristol Dental School
University of Bristol Dental School
Ulster Independent Clinic
Ulster Independent Clinic
Bognor Regis War Memorial Hospital
Bognor Regis War Memorial Hospital
Morriston Hospital, Swansea Bay University Health Board
Morriston Hospital, Swansea Bay University Health Board
North West Cancer Centre, Londonderry, NI
North West Cancer Centre, Londonderry, NI
Global celebrations
One of Röntgen's first X-rays (photos.com/ Getty Images Plus)
One of Röntgen's first X-rays (photos.com/ Getty Images Plus)
About World Radiography Day
Along with Fleming’s discovery of penicillin and Banting and Best’s first successful use of insulin, Wilhelm Röntgen’s chance finding on 8 November 1895 that invisible rays from a cathode ray tube could pass through objects and cause a specially-treated screen nine feet away to glow has changed the course of medicine.
Röntgen called these emissions X-rays on a whim to reflect their mysterious and unknown nature. He intended the name to be temporary but, as we all know, it stuck and attempts to later call them Röntgen rays were unsuccessful.
He continued to experiment and noted that the rays appeared to pass through human soft tissue but not bone. To test this finding, he took an X-ray picture of his wife Bertha’s hand. After observing the results, she is said to have remarked: “I have seen my death!"
X-rays and the subsequent rapid and continuing advances in medical imaging technology have changed the way medicine is practised and have led to innumerable new diagnostic techniques and treatments. Without them, clinicians would be grasping in the dark.
So, 128 years to the day after William Röntgen made his discovery, we celebrate the wonderful force for good that it has become and the inspiring work of radiographers across the globe.
Find out more...
Read more about World Radiography Day on the SoR website
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