A Therapeutic Radiographer has been recognised for his work to address health inequalities in the Radiography Awards and the Chief Allied Health Profession Officer Awards.
In the 2024 Radiography Awards, Naman Julka-Anderson was awarded Radiographer of the Year for the London Region, and was celebrated in the eighth annual Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) Awards for Leadership in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Allied Health Professional of the Year, and was also awarded a Gold Excellence Award.
This year the CAHPO Awards took place virtually on the evening of 10 October 2024 and the awards aim to recognise the work of radiographers and other workers in delivering exceptional care for patients.
He has become the first Therapeutic Radiographer to receive the CAHPO awards.
Groundbreaking work to fight inequality
Mr Julka-Anderson, research radiographer at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and host of popular radiotherapy podcast RadChat, has been working for more than two years now to improve the treatment of radiation-induced skin reactions.
The Radiography Awards winners were announced on Tuesday 15 October, ahead of the prestigious award ceremony taking place in London on 7 November. The awards celebrate the teams, individuals and students from across the UK who have made a positive difference to patient care, service delivery, or who have excelled academically.
For groundbreaking work to fight inequity in radiotherapy practice for skin reactions, and dedication to progressing the profession, Mr Julka-Anderson became one of the London region’s Radiographers of the Year.
Diversity and strength of all AHP communities
The CAHPO awards provide an opportunity to highlight the “incredible” work being carried out by Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) and demonstrate the “vital” role they play in delivering the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, they added.
Awarded by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, the Leadership in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion award recognises those who have taken positive action to ensure strategies, policies and wider work programmes are equitable and inclusive, respecting the diversity and strengths of all AHP communities.
It also celebrates efforts to ensure the AHP workforce reflects the people and populations it serves, through targeted and evidence-based interventions.
Of the various awards offered by the CAHPO, Mr Julka-Anderson was also selected as overall AHP of the year.
'We are so proud'
Richard Evans, CEO of the SoR, said: “It is fantastic news that Naman has been recognised for his leadership and outstanding contribution to therapeutic radiography. His work as co-presenter of RadChat is well known in our profession.
“This award also recognises Naman’s work to raise awareness of different skin tones when planning, delivering and caring for patients during radiotherapy. Radiographers everywhere will be delighted to hear that Naman has not only won the category award but also that his contribution is evaluated to the level of AHP of the year. We are so proud of Naman!”
In addition, Mr Julka-Anderson was awarded the CAHPO Gold Excellence Award, which he received alongside sonographer Jackie Matthews, Therapeutic Radiographer Shareen Pavaday, and 19 other AHPs from across the professions.
This year also marks the first year for the Gold Excellence Award, which celebrates excellence where a “significant, outstanding and exceptional contribution has been made by members of the AHP community in England. They are recognised for consistently leading by example, demonstrating strong NHS values and high levels of commitment throughout their work.
'It still hasn't fully sunk in'
Mr. Julka-Anderson said: “It still hasn’t fully sunk in, to be the first one [to receive the CAHPO awards] as well. It’s quite scary. But throughout all the work I’ve done, being the first person to tackle these kinds of inequalities, is incredible. We often get forgotten, so it’s nice that one of us has won.”
Part of Mr Julka-Anderson’s achievement in diversity and inclusion come in the form of his work in founding the Radiation Induced Skin Reactions Special Interest Group (RISR).
RISR provides healthcare practitioners a platform to discuss and share skin reaction assessment, management and teaching information to better support all patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment.
'Start taking some action'
Academically, Mr Julka-Anderson has produced papers covering this topic, including one entitled Structural racism in radiation induced skin reaction toxicity scoring, which aims to understand the implicit biases that can affect assessment of radiation-induced skin reactions in patients with darker skin.
He added: “Tackling inequality should be at the heart of our profession. People of colour have always been around, so just bringing us to the forefront of people’s mind can remind them that white skin isn’t the norm. You have to be able to assess anyone who comes in the door.
“Most of the work I’ve done in the past couple of years has been on my own time, my own money. I can’t accept just going on after I’ve seen a problem. I really wanted to make a change. I really want to inspire other people to start tackling inequalities. If you see something, don’t just recognise it and move on. Start taking some action. There’s a huge community of people who will be able to support you.”
(Image: Naman Julka-Anderson with his CAHPO Awards)