Radiographer who struggled to take basic X-rays at hospital faces sanctions

The FTP inquiry heard that Mr Denhere was still offered a senior radiography post by St Luke’s in 2018 despite hospital management being aware of serious concerns over his competence. File photo

A fitness-to-practise inquiry has recommended sanctions against a radiographer in a Dublin hospital after hearing evidence that he struggled to take basic X-rays and was rated with the competence of a “second-year undergraduate”.

Tafadzwanashe “Edison” Denhere, a radiographer at St Luke’s Hospital in Rathgar, Dublin will face undisclosed sanctions after the fitness-to-practise (FTP) committee of CORU, the regulatory body of health and social care professionals, found four allegations of poor professional performance against him were proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The committee chairperson, Susan Ahern, said the findings were based on Mr Denhere’s own admissions and the evidence of an expert witness.

Mr Denhere (aged 37), who qualified as a radiographer in Zimbabwe, admitted to two counts of failing to demonstrate the skill and knowledge required to safely practice as a radiographer between September 23, 2017, and February 4, 2018, while on call at St Luke’s diagnostic imaging department.

He also admitted a third count of practising radiography on his own while working the on-call roster over the same period when he knew or ought to have known that he did not have the adequate skill, knowledge, competence or experience.

The radiographer, who has worked at St Luke’s since April 2016, also admitted failing to ask a 40-year-old female patient if she was pregnant or breastfeeding before administering a radioactive drug on a date in May 2018.

The FTP inquiry heard that Mr Denhere was still offered a senior radiography post by St Luke’s in 2018 despite hospital management being aware of serious concerns over his competence.

On the second day of the hearing, independent expert witness, Claire Madden, said all radiographers were instructed to always find out if female patients aged 12-55 could be pregnant.

Ms Madden said an examination of a sample of X-ray images taken by Mr Denhere showed he was making the same mistakes over five months which indicated he had not rectified any of his shortcomings over the period.

The inquiry heard he had needed six attempts to take a chest X-ray on one occasion, while many images were also underexposed.

While the incidents were not required to be reported, because they did not involve high enough levels of radiation exposure on patients, Ms Madden said they were “far from being as low as reasonably achievable”.

She acknowledged that a consultant radiographer at St Luke’s, Prof. Conor Collins, was satisfied that Mr Denhere had sufficient knowledge for his duties in the hospital’s nuclear medicine department but said it “does not take anything from the fact that he should be able to take general X-rays.” 

Dr Kathryn Carson, the principal physicist at St Luke’s, claimed all the incidents involving Mr Denhere were “minor” and noted he had not been the subject of any formal complaints.

However, Ms Madden said the risk of poor quality X-ray images was that they could lead to cases of missed diagnosis through the failure to see signs of disease, pathology or injury.

She claimed two courses in further training that Mr Denhere had signed up for would not address the deficiencies highlighted in the case before the FTP inquiry. Cross-examined by counsel for Mr Denhere, Matthew Jolley, BL, Ms Madden agreed that there was evidence of staffing and structural complaints at St Luke’s over a number of years.

The former radiography services manager at St Luke’s, Susan Neill, who alerted CORU about concerns relating to Mr Denhere, stated she felt sorry for the radiographer as she believed his situation was the result of “mismanagement.” 

Dr Pamela McCrae, a clinical specialist radiographer at St Luke’s, claimed the hospital’s management was reluctant to tackle the issue as Mr Denhere was the sole radiographer in its nuclear medicine department which faced closure if he was removed from the post.

Ms Madden agreed with Mr Jolley that the reporting structure for radiographers at St Luke’s was “unusual” and “far from ideal”. Addressing the FTP committee, Mr Jolley said Mr Denhere accepted that a sanction was warranted over his admissions of poor professional performance but argued his failings were “at the minor end of the scale” which thankfully had not resulted in any adverse outcomes.

He urged the committee to also recognise that the staffing and management issues at St Luke’s were a mitigating factor.

The inquiry heard that Mr Denhere no longer works in an unsupervised capacity at the hospital after restrictions were imposed on his registration as a radiographer.

The sanctions recommended by the FTP committee, which were not made public, have to be formally ratified by CORU.