• Mrs Kayleigh Hizzett - Chair
• Mrs Claire Elwood - Incoming Chair
• Mrs Claire Maxim - Committee Member
• Mrs Jessica Cutri - Committee Member
• Miss Mili Patel - Committee Member
• Mr Adam Durant - Committee Member
• Dr Conrad von Stempel - Scientific Programme Rep
•  - Executive Officer
• Mrs Nike Alesbury - BSIR CEO
• Ms Julie Ellison - BSIR Director of Operations

 

BSIRNR Chair - Kayleigh Hackett

Kay Hizzett is an Assistant Professor at the University of Bradford. Prior to commencing employment at the University in 2015 she worked at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary within interventional radiology, cardiology and MRI and became an Advanced Practitioner within vascular access. Preceding to this Kay worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

She successfully completed her Masters in Medical Imaging in 2021 with her dissertation focussing on career decision making of undergraduate radiographers.

Kay has a strong passion for interventional radiology education, an area that is often forgotten both at undergraduate and postgraduate level of both radiographers and nurses.

Her research interests include career decision making, advanced practice and vascular access.

At home Kay lives with her husband, daughter and Cat. She has a love for shoes and leopard print.

She is thrilled to have become the Chair of the British Society of Interventional Radiology Nurses and Radiographers and looks forward to the future developments of the committee

BSIRNR Incoming Chair - Claire Elwood

I have been a Diagnostic radiographer for over 20 years. I qualified from the University of Hertfordshire and after a short time working in London; I have built my career with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.  I completed the NHS England Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) e portfolio accreditation in October 2023 and work within Interventional Radiology (IR)  performing a number or examinations and procedures autonomously.

I enjoy working in a multidisciplinary environment and have always been drawn to theatre and fluoroscopy, so IR is a good combination! IR is a growing speciality within Radiology and the technological advances are creating exciting and innovative patient pathways that make a real difference. 

IR is often overlooked as a speciality within Radiology and I hope as a committee member to be able to support the committee in achieving their goals of promotion, education and networking at all levels.

Committee Member - Claire Maxim

After leaving my native Yorkshire in 1991 I qualified from the  University of Derby in 1994, and spent my first 3 years working in Derby. I then made the move to Leicester where I have now been for the past 25 years.  The majority of those years have been spent in IR, and I am now the Clinical Lead Supt at University Hospitals of Leicester. This covers Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and The Glenfield Hospital. We are a large team – over 50- and perform a wide range of interventions and vascular access. We have extended roles in barium swallows. HSG, change of nephrostomy, vascular access and are planning much more.

I have always had a passion for IR ,and take every opportunity to promote the amazing work we all do. I think we are very much overlooked and undersell ourselves, so it is really important to showcase our work.

I love being part of a strong MDT and  making such a difference to patients’ treatments, prognosis and palliation.

I have completed a Pg Dip in Healthcare Studies and am currently in the 2^nd year of my MSc in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement. My studies bring together the aspects that are of the greatest importance to me. Patient safety is at the centre of all I do, and I have a keen interest in human factors and within the workplace. I think being able to think around the issues and challenges in this way give real scope for sustained improvement using the best evidence and research available.

As a new member of the committee I am looking forward to networking and sharing in order to promote the great work we all do every day.

Committee Member - Jessica Cutri

In 2009, I joined the team at University Hospitals of Leicester, following graduation from University of Hertfordshire. After 5 years as a general radiographer, I had the chance to join the IR department on a secondment. I soon came to realise that IR was the diverse workload that I was looking for and it quickly became my favourite modality.

Since then, I have gained 2 PG certs: 1 for Healthcare Leadership and 1 in Advanced Medical Imaging. The most recent of these was obtained in 2018 from Salford University, focusing on performing and reporting on barium swallows. However, I hope to expand my procedural skills by undertaking more examinations in the future.

By 2022, I was lucky enough to be granted the role of Practice Development Lead Radiographer for IR. This has allowed me to embrace my passion for teaching, by nurturing staff development plans and creating more learning opportunities for all members of the multidisciplinary IR team.

Being part of this committee has opened my eyes to the wider world of IR and provided me with the opportunity to network with other likeminded individuals. My hope is to continue the great work that our committee and extended IR members have achieved so far and promote our amazing modality to the radiographers and nurses of the future.

Committee Member - Mili Patel

Hello! I’m Mili, I qualified from Birmingham City University in 2019 and worked as a General Radiographer at Royal Stoke University Hospital for 18 months. 

My favourite aspects of radiography when working as a general radiographer were portables and theatres where I continuously got the opportunity to socialise and closely work in a multidisciplinary team with various staff members. This is was why a career in Interventional Radiography appealed to me.  

I started working as a specialist Radiographer at Royal Preston Hospital in early 2021, I was a band 5 when I started training and within 8 months when I was able to so solo on call’s got my band 6. 

When I first started training in IR, I was amazed at the difference these minimally invasive procedures made to patients and how much of a difference great teamwork made. It was definitely a struggle learning all the different type of kit, different procedures and different machines but once it all came together and started clicking, I felt so proud of myself. I’m still learning every single day! 

I knew of SIRNR as some of my nurse colleagues were on the committee, but it wasn’t until I attended my first BSIR event in 2022 that I felt the urge to join. I wanted to join SIRNR because in my short time as an IR radiographer I found whenever I told someone I worked in IR their response would be "What's that?" At BSIR I was so happy to meet the SIRNR committee members and share their passion to network, educate and promote IR.

Committee Member - Adam Durrant

Hello, I’m Adam Durrant and I’ve been an Interventional Radiology Deputy Charge Nurse in Norwich for the past 5 years.

Once qualifying from the University of East Anglia in 2013 I went on to become a Theatre Scrub nurse specialising in urology and robotic surgery, Where I learnt and honed my scrubbing skills that I still get to use in IR today.

After wanting to progress my career and looking for a new challenge I then went onto work at the Interventional Radiology Unit at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in 2018. Working within a specialised department has been great to learn new skills, to see new procedures and to be a at the forefront of modern healthcare.  

Since starting in the IR Department, we have opened the Norfolk Centre for Interventional Radiology at the NNUH. It has been exciting and very fulfilling to have had a hand in helping to create this new service. I thoroughly enjoy working in interventional Radiology as I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of healthcare staff and specialties, ensuring the best care possible for our patients.