Report to the Society and College of Radiographers

A project to develop draft modules and a credit framework to support development ofmanagement skills in radiographers

In work undertaken for NHS Education for Scotland during 2010-11, training in workforce planning was identified as a central skill in helping managers bring about reforms to departmental structure and introducing new posts/roles within their departments (Miller, Price, Hicks and Higgs, 2011).

In that work, and in other projects conducted for Skills for Health, it has emerged that managers are often unable to give accounts of the impact of introducing new posts/roles within their departments (eg Miller, Cox and Williams, 2009).

Often this is because they do not have, or have not gained, access to data that proves (or disproves) impact. Often the evidence available hints at the savings (and hence cost-benefits) to be gained from the changes made but departments stop short of conducting any real evaluation.

For example, at the 2010 SBK Healthcare conference on Delivering Efficiency Through Your Radiology Workforce, Amanda Martin gave an account of ‘Creating a Lean Radiology Workforce Culture: Delivering Higher Performance to Remove Waste and Achieve Improved Utilisation’. While the work described was impressive, no account of any cost benefits was given.

At the UKRC in 2011, Beverly Snaith gave an account of the savings that can be demonstrated as arising from changes in practice within imaging and radiotherapy departments when appropriate data is inspected, and the savings can be significant – more than enough to justify any initial investment in change. These hinted at a range of topics in which it would be beneficial for imaging and radiotherapy managers, and those aspiring to such positions, to have access to developmental support.

For some time the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) has been considering the support it might provide to help imaging service managers cope with changes taking place within the health sector and the changes in demands that arise from these changes.

Work undertaken by the University of Hertfordshire and Institute for Employment Studies research team, and reported elsewhere, points to some salient areas in which development and support might be appropriately targeted.

This report is based upon the work undertaken following the acceptance of the proposal from Richard Price and Linda Miller to undertake an initial scoping and development programme to identify areas for which learning modules could be developed.