Clinical supervision: a case study of implementation within an x-ray department in a trauma centre
Supervision has been given a central place within the NHS Long-term Workforce Plan (2023) which states that the subject should be a core responsibility for maintaining high quality patient care alongside continuous development and protected time for training. Clinical supervision is included within standard 4.8 of the Health and Care Professions Council standards of proficiency and The Society of Radiographers (SoR) published supervision guidelines in 2013. Real-life application of the subject within radiography is limited. A continuing medical education introduction of the subject at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) highlighted a lack of understanding of supervision.
The x-ray department at UHP committed to a six-month trial of the professional advocacy role and its implementation was successfully engaged from all stakeholders. Radiographic leadership within the department fully engaged with the implementation to the NHS England guidelines of the role and the team was asked to help extend knowledge and understanding of professional advocacy across all the associated modalities within imaging.
The implementation of professional advocacy has been novel and innovative across imaging, but the team believes we have a solid and scalable blueprint of success. The team has disseminated the role at UKIO and a range of leadership communities of practice such as the Peninsula Radiology Imaging Network and South West Regional Radiology leaders meeting and within the SoR. Quality improvement (QI) can be shown to be the cornerstone of the success of the role and QI projects such as ‘recognising greatness’ and the Lee Pad, a soft foam pad developed by professional advocate Lee Major with Rothband to improve patient comfort for AP chest x-ray, have anchored the success of the role within the department.
To download and read this article as a pdf please sign up to our newsletter.
The content on this page is provided by the individuals concerned and does not represent the views or opinions of RAD Magazine.
