NHS Wales Informatics Service has been working closely with the National Imaging Academy Development to provide the infrastructure for the new National Imaging Academy Wales.
The Academy, which opened in August, enables an increase in capacity for Radiologist training in Wales to help address the shortage of Radiologists. The creation of this Imaging Academy provides a protected training environment in addition to the hospital placements with workstation classrooms.
NHS Wales Informatics Service has provided the expertise to equip the Academy with the required technology to support its aims, from the purpose built lecture with interactive capability and camera to record lectures to video conferencing hubs. The major development is the collaboration with FujiFilm to provide state of the art imaging workstations where trainers and trainees will be able to access Radiology images from across NHS Wales.
Dr Phillip Wardle, the Clinical Lead for the National Imaging Academy Development confirmed “We are really excited to be able to establish the Imaging Academy. Rob Jones, Matthew Thomas and Tracy Norris have been crucial to the project and we are grateful for their significant contribution. It is an amazing development which will support Radiology training in Wales. This is first aimed at radiologists but the intention is to soon extend this training to advanced practice Radiographers and Sonographers. The Academy will also serve as a natural hub for the Diagnostic Imaging community in Wales and hopefully help achieve our ambitions in research and innovation.”