Western Isles Cardiac CT Radiographers scoop 3 national awards!   

NHS Western Isles is delighted that our Cardiac CT Radiographers have been awarded three prestigious awards by the Society of Radiographers! 

The team was first named ‘Scottish Team of the Year 2023’ before also being selected as ‘UK Team of the Year’ and winning the ‘Patient’s Choice Award for Exceptional Care’ at a special ceremony in London last night.  

The Society of Radiographers’ (SoR) Radiography Awards celebrate individuals, teams, representatives and students from across the UK who have made a positive difference to patient care, service delivery, membership representation or those who have excelled academically.  

The Cardiac CT Radiographers were nominated for developing a new Radiographer-led service that was established in 2019 from the ground up. The service is fully patient-centred, avoiding unnecessary patient travel and disruption and providing local diagnostics in a system where there is not a Radiologist or Cardiologist on site.   

Starting off with two Radiographers, the service has developed and now comprises four enthusiastic and dedicated Radiographers trained and providing this innovative and effective service to the population of the Western Isles.     

Being a small, goal-orientated team has allowed the staff to work closely with other professions, both locally and across Scotland, to ensure a truly patient centred service.     

Prior to the development of the service, patients previously had an Interventional Coronary Angiogram off-island, with an arterial puncture and all the associated risks. Patients now have access to a safe and local service, rather than an interventional procedure in specialist centre with significant risks associated. Patients are able to be clinically triaged appropriately with support from the specialist centre. Whilst some patients will require an invasive Angiogram, the new service will prevent this for many.   

NHS Western Isles Radiology Manager, Jane Macdonald, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been recognised in these awards. As a team, we work hard for our patients and we are humbled that our work has been nationally recognised. It was quite a steep learning curve when first training, but the more we did the more confident we became.    

“The Radiographers rotate duties throughout the rest of the department, provide on-call and have other commitments within the department; so there is a lot of planning and scheduling to ensure the right staff are available at the right time.”   

She added: “This role development gives us a huge amount of job satisfaction. Particularly as we are using the resources of NHS Scotland to the best value: only the patients that really need to go to Glasgow for an interventional angiogram will have to go.”   

The Cardiac CT Team comprises four Specialist Radiographers: Karen Macleod, Ciara Mackenzie, Alexandra Maciver and Jane Macdonald.  The staff have had several years of experience in CT, post graduate education in CT and a special interest in CT as a speciality.     

NHS Western Isles Medical Director, Dr Frank McAuley, said: “I couldn’t be more proud of the team for achieving these very well deserved awards. This was an innovative patient-centred service created just four years ago, and involved the development of existing staff who were willing and enthusiastic to enhance their skills in the interests of improving patient care. The motivation and dedication of the team to ensure the success of this service has resulted in an improved service with better and quicker access for local patients. Congratulations and well done to everyone involved.”   

The Radiography Awards took place yesterday in London, but unfortunately the team was unable to attend as a result of flight cancellations.