Vicky Hipperson was recently appointed to the Clinical and Professional Group’s (CPG) breast screening equipment division, which provides expert guidance on screening systems at a national level. Vicky explains her role and the role of the group as a whole.
CPGs exist for the domains in breast, as well as the national bowel and cervical screening programmes. They are set up and work to the remit of Public Health England and, in my case, for the NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP). The group provides practical and clinical to advice to NHSBSP.
Applying to join the group provided an excellent opportunity for me to represent consultant radiographers on a national level. My aim was to bring knowledge about breast screening to the group from an experienced clinical radiographer position, with advanced practice expertise, while learning more about breast screening and PHE from a guidance perspective.
The group comprises up to 15 members who provide expert guidance to the NHSBSP regarding the use of equipment. It reviews and revises the guidance on equipment use and aims to standardise best practice across the NHSBSP.
Where there is an incident involving equipment, the group will assist the NHSBSP with managing the case. They will review data on equipment usage, faults, quality and incidents, assess this in terms of clinical impact, and identify trends within it. This will then be used to guide the service nationally and improve delivery.
In my role, I will be able to use both my mammographer experience and clinical knowledge to allow me to evaluate the use of different systems. I feel I have a wealth of knowledge and experience in over 16 years as a mammographer, as well as six years as a consultant practitioner, and can draw upon this to support the aims of the equipment CPG.
In turn, I hope to use this experience in my current breast screening unit to directly improve the care we give ourselves.