We are UHB: Maria Reynolds

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust runs Good Hope, Heartlands, Queen Elizabeth and Solihull hospitals, the Birmingham Chest Clinic, and Solihull community services.

I trained to be a diagnostic radiographer at Keele University many moons ago. My training was mainly at Shrewsbury Hospital, but when I qualified, unlike now, there was a shortage of radiography jobs. I managed to get a temporary job at Frimley Park Hospital, which was a part-military hospital.

I later secured a permanent job there and did a range of radiography; plain film x-rays, imaging in theatres, mobile x-rays, working in the emergency department, working in fluoroscopy, and I did some interventional radiography there as well. It was an interesting job and I did plenty of night shifts where I was the only radiographer on duty, which was character building! I soon learned how to cope with conflicting priorities as the only radiographer in the trust at night, which was a good lesson.

I was successful in getting a secondment to a senior 2 job there, and I did that for about a year before I moved back to the Midlands and came to work at Heartlands Hospital. I worked as a senior 2 as a general radiographer across the hospital. A few years later I had the opportunity to become a senior 1, which meant I also worked in interventional radiology, CT and the cardiac cath labs, as well as in general radiography.

General radiography was probably my first love. I love the fact that you have that a personal interaction with the patient, you position the patient yourself so the resulting image is your own work, that you get to see first.? It can be a real privilege to be a small part of a patient’s life at a moment of worry and to support them when they may be vulnerable. Radiography is completely reliant on what you do, and is quite satisfying because that episode of care is finished in one go, so you're continually completing tasks – I’ve always thought that radiographers are quite task-orientated.

I then had the opportunity to work in some leadership roles and I was doing a number of different projects. At the same time, I was training to do a postgraduate certificate in reporting. I’ve done all sorts of projects from Cost Improvement Projects to introducing electronic requesting, looking at radiation safety, business case development, equipment installations, quality assurance, and incident and complaint management. I’ve been through various restructures and merges within the Trust, and eventually ended up leading the reporting service and practice and education.

When I started my family I wanted to go part-time, so decided to move completely into the practice and education side, partly because it provided more flexibility, but also because I really enjoy the fact that I can make a difference. I can see where there are opportunities for staff and role development, and then find ways to make that happen. It’s been lovely to be able to introduce apprenticeships for radiography and I chaired the trailblazing team for the diagnostic radiography apprenticeship standard nationally. That was fantastic, a great opportunity for me personally, but also a great thing to do for the wider profession.

I’m really proud to have introduced degree apprenticeships for radiography to UHB. We offer apprenticeships for assistant practitioners, and they can then top up to a degree. This year we had our first two radiographers qualify as diagnostic radiographers via that route. It opens up even more career opportunities for them - they can go on through radiography and potentially into advanced practice as well. The wider team supports them as they train, as well as the practice and education team, and the idea is they feel part of the workforce and will therefore hopefully want to stay.

Within our practice and education team we have educators in radiography, which is quite an unusual thing for Allied Health Professionals. We’ve had them for some time at what was the old Heart of England Trust, and we’ve recently introduced them at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There's currently a shortage of diagnostic radiographers nationally and having educators has allowed us to expand student placements at undergraduate level, meaning we’ve increased our learner numbers, but obviously we need to be able to support them in a safe way and provide the supervision they require. One of our HEE-funded projects we supported last year across the region looked at how to increase student placement capacity by finding ways to safely support students across the region to undertake placements over 24/7 shifts. It was something we already did at UHB, and we knew other trusts could do it too if they had time to think about the potential.? So, one of the recommendations was also to increase radiographer educators, which has contributed to more educator radiographers being funded by NHSE.

Our team has also created a radiographers educators forum across the region so we can share ideas and resources across the system, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. The forum has shared how to establish quality preceptorships, how to support struggling students, and our experiences in supporting international radiographers. Taking care of all our staff, from both a developmental and a pastoral perspective, is the driving force for our team and we’re committed to making colleagues feel valued and welcomed. If we get that right, we hope they’ll want to stay and it will also help to attract people to join UHB in the first place, knowing that there’s a team of people there to support them.

My favourite thing about my role is the fact that there’s so many aspects to it. I liaise with lots of different people day-to-day and, because I’m not responsible for a service delivery, I can initiate changes, listen to ideas, and enable my team to provide support and encouragement. This ensures we provide safe, competent imaging staff for our patients who require diagnostic imaging in a sensitive manner.? I enjoy being an ambassador for diagnostic radiographers at UHB on both a regional and national scale, and love being able to bring the best bits of regional and national practices into our local workplace.

In the past year, we’ve also been supporting emotional resilience training. We give colleagues the space and time to think about how they’re coping, how to recognise if they’re not, and how to look after themselves in the long-term. This not only prevents burn-out but encourages the team to look out for others too. As radiographers we see all sorts of things – the nature of our roles mean we can flit between departments, for example, we could go from x-raying a tiny baby in the neonatal unit to being urgently required in the emergency department to x-ray someone who has just had a road traffic collision. There are a lot of extremes, so looking after our own emotional well-being is almost as important as focusing on career development.

I think being kind is a part of my leadership style. I always try to empathise and see other people’s point of view. I think you can approach difficult subjects in a kind way that is clear and constructive, and I think that’s probably how I connect with my colleagues, not just in the department but the wider Trust and region too. I think I’m bold in that I’m always looking for different ways to do things. I like to explore new ideas and will find ways of gaining support and getting funding for courses I think the team will really benefit from. I’m not afraid of asking questions, or of trying to make change happen.

My goal for my team is to have enough people to support our colleagues as much as we’d like to. We have 10 people in the team and there are over 400 radiographers at UHB. In the last year we've done an awful lot of international recruitment within diagnostic radiography, we’ve had 66 international recruits come on board and we’ve trying to provide continuous support both for clinical competence and pastoral care. I want to continue increasing my team’s knowledge and experience, so we have a really comprehensive support offer for all of our radiographers.

We’re celebrating National AHPs’ Day (Saturday 14 October) and want to say a huge thank you to our fantastic colleagues working in the Allied Health Professions. Fancy joining our amazing team of AHPs? Visit Jobs (uhb.nhs.uk) for more information.