Staff engagement is central to providing quality patient care, and this is at the heart of The Christie Commitment - Victoria Hughes

Victoria Hughes, principal radiographer and Christie Commitment champion

Victoria Hughes

I have been principal radiographer in The Christie radiology department since September 2015. My role involves supporting the radiology services manager, clinical director and business manager with the management of the radiology service, which includes plain film X-ray, interventional radiology, ultrasound, CT and MRI scanning, as well as providing nuclear medicine and PET/CT reporting. 

We undertake over 55,000 examinations and interventional procedures per year, imaging patients for diagnosis or post treatment follow-up, or as part of clinical trials.

I am also departmental lead for governance, ensuring maintenance of quality throughout the department and responding to any clinical incidents or patient concerns, to make sure we learn from these to constantly improve our service and maintain high standards.

I felt lucky to have the opportunity to come back to the Trust, having previously worked here as a diagnostic radiographer from 1996-2007. The radiology service has grown substantially since then. Since returning, it’s been an exciting time with a new purpose built 3 scanner MRI suite opening last summer, vastly improving the patient experience. The opening of the Integrated Procedures Unit (IPU) later this year, incorporating a new two room interventional radiology suite and ultrasound room, will enable us to integrate more closely with other teams to create a more seamless patient service.

Staff numbers have also increased, with over 100 staff including radiologists, diagnostic radiographers, radiology nurses, radiographic aides, porters, clinical trials team, picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) manager, and secretarial/clerical support. Despite this, the department has retained its close knit family feel and team spirit, and what makes both radiology and the wider Trust such a special place to work is the positive atmosphere and motivation to put patients first which remains constant.

The Trust recognises the importance of staff engagement to this sense of team working and patient centeredness, and developed a set of pledges collectively known as The Christie Commitment, aiming to help staff appreciate how much of a difference they make to patients. On starting in post I was asked to submit a monthly report to our divisional board outlining how the radiology department was meeting the commitment. The pledges cover the areas of:

• Achievement and recognition – thanking staff for doing a good job, and rewarding those who go the extra mile
• Learning and development – ensuring opportunities for personal development and career progression
• Healthy workplace – supporting health and wellbeing of staff and promoting a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns
• Communication and engagement – Good communication processes and staff involvement in decisions affecting them or their service
• Proud of The Christie – aims for staff to be advocates of The Christie both as a place to be cared for and to work, sharing patient feedback, the work of The Christie charity and results of research

I thought it important that all department staff had an opportunity to contribute so began sending a monthly e-mail request to all staff for items to include. Staff positively engaged with this which inspired me to find out more about The Christie Commitment and how we could support this within the department. So I volunteered to become a Christie Commitment champion, one of a team of staff from different departments and professions dedicated to raising awareness of the commitment and staff engagement.

Being a champion involves attending a quarterly Christie Commitment forum, as well as informal lunch-time catch ups in between, for updates on staff engagement events and activities, sharing ideas between departments, and promoting these within our own areas.

Although voluntary, this has also helped in my formal role, increasing knowledge of the Trust through networking with staff I may not otherwise have met, promoting engagement between departments, and providing opportunities to become involved with activities in the wider Trust. These include the staff summer garden party, annual health and wellbeing day, and speaking to new staff at Trust induction about The Christie Commitment and values.

I was fortunate that radiology already had effective engagement processes through regular staff meetings, good communication between team leaders and other staff, and an open door policy for staff to come and raise concerns. We have regular lunchtime education sessions and an early morning journal club. These are organised and run by members of staff and are well attended. We also support professional study leave and attendance at study days and courses for staff development at all levels.

Producing monthly Christie Commitment updates have enabled us to build on this further, with it becoming not only a feedback tool to the Trust about engagement in the department, but a document shared back with the radiology team. In the update we celebrate each other’s achievements, advertise any learning and development  or health and well-being events, and one of the most important elements – ensure all staff are aware of compliments and positive patient feedback, as not all can attend staff meetings each month.

It means a huge amount to us to receive positive comments via patient letters, cards or surveys, as it is so rewarding and motivating to know that the commitment of staff really does make a difference.

As managers in radiology we value staff feedback and ideas for improvement and periodically undertake a departmental staff survey. The most recent in May 2016, identified ideas we were able to action, such as employing an additional porter to improve patient flow and reduce delays, and implementing a staff suggestion box.

Kim Jones, Nazir Majeed and Victoria Hughes

We also encourage staff to take part in the ‘One Week, All Staff’ events run by the Trust, to feed back directly at Trust level, as well as the wider NHS staff surveys. We have added a Christie Commitment section to the monthly staff meeting agenda, to enable sharing of feedback on staff suggestions, and engagement events news from the Commitment forum.

Through promoting the role of the Christie Commitment champions we now have two further volunteers from the department, representing different staff groups within radiology – Kim Jones, radiology specialist nurse and Nazir Majeed, radiographic aide, which is further helping us to engage both with the radiology team and other staff across the Trust.

The radiology team were delighted with the Trust’s recent ‘Outstanding’ CQC result and are extremely proud to have been able to contribute towards this, as it reflects the ethos of the Trust and its commitment to its patients, but also to its staff, which is emphasised within the pledges of The Christie commitment.

For further information about The Christie commitment please email thechristiecommitment@christie.nhs.uk or contact Carol Reah on 0161 446 8423.