Advanced Practitioners in the spotlight
This week across CTM we are marking Advanced Practitioners Week by celebrating the role of Advanced Practitioner in our Health Board.
Advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) are healthcare professionals, educated to Master’s level, with the skills and knowledge to allow them to expand their scope of practice to meet the needs of the people they care for.
ACPs are deployed across CTM and work at a level of advanced clinical practice including in clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research.
Today we meet Stuart Baines who is a Clinical Specialist Radiographer at Royal Glamorgan Hospital and extensively involved in developing Advanced Practice opportunities within CTMUHB for Radiology staff.
Talking about his role, Stuart said: “I am part of the Neuro reporting team and attend the Neurology Multi Disciplinary Team meeting, which enhances my learning and gives me insight into the clinical management of patients and how my radiology reports affect patient management. I am lucky to be well supported by my Radiologist colleagues.
“As a reporting Radiographer I feel I have the opportunity to make a real difference to a patient’s diagnosis and management with high quality and timely reports. When I successfully identify and communicate significant findings to the referring clinicians, it is very rewarding.
“Recently I completed a postgraduate qualification in Chest/Abdominal X-ray interpretation and formulated a team of Reporting Radiographers to deliver same day radiology reports for GP referred chest X-rays.
“I feel that it is important to share knowledge with my Radiographer and hospital colleagues and enjoy spending time teaching about Neuro CT to aid their understanding of radiology findings. I have academic links with local higher education institutions and regularly teach undergraduate and postgraduate Radiography students.
“The final pillar of my practice involves me participating in clinical research projects and service evaluations within CTM, to enable the department to continually improve the quality of the services we offer patients and clinicians within Radiology.”
