London's National Health Service (NHS) Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP) is stepping up its efforts to recruit and train radiographers to specialize in mammography, including a pilot program to utilize retired radiographers in an educational role.
As part of the London Breast Screening Recovery Programme, phase one of the Pan London Breast Screening Training Programme will run from January 2022 to March 2023. This program will support London services to proactively attract, recruit, and offer training to radiographers wanting to specialize in mammography and to those hoping to access the L4 mammography apprenticeship, according to a statement issued by the U.K. Society of Radiographers (SoR).
In addition, the program will support existing staff in accessing advanced practice training to increase the clinical skill mix within teams, the organization said. Participants in the program include NHS England, Health Education England (HEE), the National Breast Imaging Training Centres, and the SoR.
The NHS is also launching a 12-month pilot program to test a new role -- the breast screening practice educator -- with the goal of providing greater access to training and development within trusts and improving retention. It will also link clinical education and practice, support staff in bridging gaps, and develop evidence-based practice in the trusts, according to the society.
This position would be suitable for retirees wanting to pass on their clinical expertise before they leave the service, according to the SoR.
"The SoR is delighted to encourage members in London Breast Screening Services to trial this new role," said SoR Professional Officer Sue Johnson. "Those contemplating retirement may want to reconsider and spend a year sharing the expertise, experience and knowledge gained over a long career with new starters and experienced colleagues alike."
![Overview of the study design. (A) The fully automated deep learning framework was developed to estimate body composition (BC) (defined as subcutaneous adipose tissue [SAT] in liters; visceral adipose tissue [VAT] in liters; skeletal muscle [SM] in liters; SM fat fraction [SMFF] as a percentage; and intramuscular adipose tissue [IMAT] in deciliters) from MRI. The fully automated framework comprised one model (model 1) to quantify different BC measures (SAT, VAT, SM, SMFF, and IMAT) as three-dimensional (3D) measures from whole-body MRI scans. The second model (model 2) was trained to identify standardized anatomic landmarks along the craniocaudal body axis (z coordinate field), which allowed for subdividing the whole-body measures into different subregions typically examined on clinical routine MRI scans (chest, abdomen, and pelvis). (B) BC was quantified from whole-body MRI in over 66,000 individuals from two large population-based cohort studies, the UK Biobank (UKB) (36,317 individuals) and the German National Cohort (NAKO) (30,291 individuals). Bar graphs show age distribution by sex and cohort. BMI = body mass index. (C) After the performance assessment of the fully automated framework, the change in BC measures, distributions, and profiles across age decades were investigated. Age-, sex-, and height-adjusted body composition reference curves were calculated and made publicly available in a web-based z-score calculator (https://circ-ml.github.io).](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/05/body-comp.XgAjTfPj1W.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
