Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’s Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Team has won The Society of Radiographers Wales Region Team of the Year 2015.
The Radiography Team of the Year annual awards, organised by the Society of Radiographers, is an opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication of radiography teams across the country.
The combining of the health board’s nuclear medicine and molecular imaging service with the medical physics department has created a world class team of expert allied health professionals (AHPs).
Chris O’Callaghan, Superintendent Nuclear Medicine Radiographer at Cardiff and Vale UHB said: “We have a robust team of AHPs who deliver an outstanding service. The nuclear medicine team is multi-disciplinary with radiographic department assistants, assistant practitioners, nuclear medicine technologists, medical physicists, clinical scientists, booking co-coordinators, diagnostic radiographers and radiotherapists.
“This unique mix of staff has given us a unique skill set, not previously available within traditional radiology departments. This has made a massive impact to the delivery of service for the patients.”
Fiona Jenkins, Director of Therapies at Cardiff and Vale UHB said: “I’d like to congratulate the team on this great achievement. This award recognises and rewards their dedication and commitment to providing excellence in their field.”
The multidisciplinary team includes radiographers at University Hospital of Wales and University Hospital Llandough, and also staff from Medical Physics, PETIC and Velindre.
The team has established a vulval sentinel lymph node imagining service across three sites. In doing this, the team has learned advanced techniques outside of the standard scope of nuclear medicine.
There has also been closer collaboration with other health boards’ radiography departments, which has led to adapted and expanded techniques allowing the exporting of metabolic data to aid radiotherapy planning.
The PET/CT staff are also featuring on the BBC’s Horizon programme, focusing on the F18-DOPA research they have been conducting for a potential cure for Parkinson’s disease.
