Clinical Photography: 

May 2025

We have had an extremely busy month and figures have been high and we have encountered a few tough weeks with sickness and Annual Leave, but we have worked well as a team and continued to provide an excellent service to our patients and customers. So well done to you all. 

Following the last CI News we have made an improvement sticking to the daily plan, but we could improve this more by ensuring we go out on the wards as soon as the first hour of processing is complete, this will ensure we see patients within the agreed time frame and the unassigned figures are kept at a manageable amount throughout the week. 

The watched folders and community have taken a back step since last month, therefore the plan for next month is to ensure these are a priority and incorporate these into the daily workflow when completing the first hour’s processing. 

Walsall update: 

There are going to be a few changes at Walsall including: 

• There will be a new stage added to the processing between editing of the images and uploading to waba. This has been added to stop the ongoing issues of uploading wrong patients to waba. This will be called “Checking Stage 1”. There will be a holding point of the images in the WIP2 folder, and a different photographer will check they are in the correct folders before they are uploaded. 
• All qualified photographers will be trained on the “Checking stage 2” at Walsall. This will include a checklist that has to be followed where you will document that this has been completed when adding notes into waba. 
• We will be moving to laptops soon and the mac minis will be removed. James and I have worked out a workflow to include Lightroom. This will replace Aperture. 

Once protocols have been finalised and have been signed off by Nigel we will go ahead with the changeover.

For this change to take place all photographers MUST have active Walsall AD accounts and be connected to the NHS-CORP Wifi. If you haven’t done so already, please ensure this is dealt with the next time you are onsite at Walsall. 

We are making great progress with the images taken for the Annual Report, we have the last push now until the 16th June to capture some more filler images, please ensure you liaise with Deb to work round clinical commitments but any opportunity you get while out get capturing.

Teledermatology 

May 2025

Things are really starting to move forwards towards getting the Wolverhampton and Walsall Teledermatology clinics up and running. We have been given access to the Optispace booking system, so we have been booking appropriate clinic rooms at medical centres across both regions. 

Protocols have also been finalised for the use of Cinapsis – the platform on which the Teledermatology cases will be viewed – and training session are being organised so that the photographers can familiarise themselves with the programme. There has also been a standard operating procedure (S.O.P.) written to give a general overview of the clinic procedure, which will be available – along with all other new protocols - via the Clinical Illustration website once finalised. 

Several unforeseen circumstances over the last month have highlighted the need to implement training across the team, so that we are able to comfortably cover the Teledermatology clinics should our routine Teledermatology photographers be unable to undertake them. Training in the areas is therefore going to be a major priority over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for rota changes/meeting invites to accommodate this. 

The equipment for the new clinics is also being purchased, with a new Elinchrom 3 portable flash kit and 2 pull-up grey backdrops being the latest additions. 

We have continued to have weekly Teledermatology review meetings on Thursdays during which we discuss cases and possible inappropriate referrals. This has resulted in the general number of inappropriate referrals decreasing, and a clearer understanding amongst the photographers. 

All in all, it’s been a very busy month for Teledermatology, with final preparations for the RWT and WHT clinics being made, along with the number of patients being seen at SaTH raping up for the summer months.