Radiology Referral Training
X-ray independence for Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs)
Work to the maximum level of your advanced practice competence
Do you require access to request radiology imaging for chest, upper and lower limb X-rays? Register for our Radiology Referral Training.
To be eligible you must:
Need Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) referrals
Have agreement from your employer
Training sessions have limited availability (max 15 places) and are organised based on demand. Next fully funded (free) online session is:
Tuesday 25 March 2025, 14.00-16.30
By successfully completing this training package, you will:
Work safer and to the maximum level of your competence
Complete patient care episodes quicker and more effectively
No longer need to rely on GP colleagues to request an X-ray
Making a difference to our patients, colleagues and ACP work
Patients see me doing the requests and have more faith in my abilities to assess them and order the necessary investigations.
Radiographers receive the information first hand rather than from someone who has not assessed the patient.
Builds trust with the patients who see me as a more competent clinician because I can request the tests they need.
Improved timeliness of care, reduced duplicate consultations.
Reduced duplication of effort, improving service capacity.
Greater level of feedback for confirmation of findings.
Increased confidence in the service as not requiring additional assessments.
Colleagues can concentrate on their own patients and it has freed up clinic time.
Better job satisfaction, lower workload as not needing to add additional task to GP colleagues at the end of a session.
About the Radiology Referral Training
This training is co-designed by us (NATH), Partners Health and Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust. It delivers a local radiology package that is mapped directly to UK law, IRMER regulations and NHS England guidance for advanced practice. The original pilot (Oct 2023) was rolled out to South Notts ACPs in Feb 2024.
It was developed to address the lack of chest and limb X-ray requesting rights for ACPs in Notts. They had to ask GP colleagues to request the relevant radiology for their patients. This led to legal and safety risks to patients and staff. Delays, disturbance, distraction, confusion, mistakes and frustration were all resulting in worsening patient outcomes. Enter the Radiology Referral Training!
Expanding the training package and referral hospitals
Building on the success of our pilot, we are working on establishing similar agreements with other Nottinghamshire Secondary Care institutions (Sherwood Forest Hospitals, and Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals). This will enable equitable access to clinical imaging requesting, and promote patient wellbeing and safety across the county.
We are also exploring the extension of requesting rights to other radiological investigations e.g., lumbar spine, to build on the current agreement to request chest, upper and lower limb X-rays.