“Valerie is a thoroughly professional radiographer who is highly committed to delivering the best service to the patient...”
These are the words used to describe Valerie McCollum, this year’s winner of the Society’s UK Radiographer of the Year Award.
Valerie works at the Belfast City Hospital in Northern Ireland and is responsible for a team of 14 radiographers who provide a service across two departments.
As well as participating in recruitment, appraisals, procurement, maintenance and induction programmes, she works hard to ensure that staff training needs are met; most of her staff have now acquired a postgraduate certificate in CT and regularly take part in carrying out audits.
Valerie herself has undertaken extensive training in CT and in 1994 was the first radiographer in Northern Ireland to obtain her postgraduate certificate from University College, Dublin.
With a career that spans 30 years, Valerie is a stickler for clinical governance and is a member of the clinical trials team, helping to develop the trial protocols for CT.
She makes sure that the department meets all of its CT targets by ensuring capacity is fully utilised, and participates in the on-call rota in order to understand the pressures her staff face when delivering the service.
Valerie has lectured widely, co-authored numerous papers and articles, and in 2008 had a poster accepted for RSNA - the world’s largest radiologic and medical imaging exhibition and scientific assembly.
And as if that's not enough, Valerie still finds time to play tennis, walk and cycle and has recently completed a 26 mile trek over four peaks to raise money for charity - with a sore knee!
Valerie was nominated for the award by her manager, Christine Robinson. According to Christine, the recent fundraiser is typical of Valerie, who is always thinking of others less fortunate.
Christine commented: “Valerie is continually maintaining her CPD and encouraging her staff to do the same. She treats her staff like an extension of her family, giving praise where due and reprimanding if necessary and only recently one of them said to me that they respected her as much as their own mother.
“As she has such high standards she expects this to be reflected in her team. She is in early, stays late, always thinking ahead to tomorrow to ensure everything is ready for another busy day.
“To me she is a shining example of all that a good radiographer should be; professional, conscientious, patient-focused, supportive of staff, friendly, approachable, flexible, reliable and, above all, a good friend to everyone.”
The UK Radiographer of the Year Award will be presented at the House of Commons on Thursday 12 November.
Radiographer of the Year regional winners
Eastern: Laura Sheehan, West Suffolk Hospital
Midland: Jean Coulsey, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
Northern: Linda Wilson, Out-patients X-ray, Sunderland Royal Infirmary
North west: Leslie Robinson, University of Salford
South west: Keren Anstey, The Beacon Centre, Taunton
Wales: Pat Evans, The North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre, Glan Clwyd Hospital, Rhyl
Team of the Year award winners
Overall winners and winners in Northern Ireland: Paediatric Special Interest Radiographers, South Eastern Trust, Northern Ireland
Eastern: Radiographic Team, Cambridge & Huntingdon Breast Screening Unit
London: Interventional Radiology Team, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children
Northern: Image-guided Radiotherapy Introductory Team, James Cook University Hospital
North west: X-ray Department, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital
Scotland: Cross-sectional Team, Radiology, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness
South east: Breast Imaging Centre, Churchill Hospital, Oxford
South west: Beacon Radiotherapy Team, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton
Wales: Clinical Tutors, Bangor University
Yorks & North Trent: Leeds & Wakefield Breast Screening Service
Student of the Year award winners
Radiotherapy: Carol McDonald, Cardiff University
Diagnostic: Nick Barlow, University of Leeds
