Patients say
The staff are always cheerful, courteous, respectful and put elderly people at their ease.
Patients say
Excellent, caring, consistent, conscientious.
Patients say
Very quick and very respectful - dignity maintained.
Medical Photography
Medical photography is used across many areas of medicine to aid treatment, document cases and educate clinical staff.
About our service
Medical photography is one of the earliest specialised uses of photography. Following its invention, photography has been used across many areas of medicine to aid treatment, document interesting cases and to educate clinical staff. Medical photography continues to form an important part of clinical practice today.
Why do we take photographs?
The photographs we take are primarily to be kept in your medical records.
It is important to keep a visual record in order to monitor the progress of any condition or treatment that you have. It’s quite common to have several photographs taken over the course of your treatment to monitor changes over time.
Other possible reasons for photography are as follows:
- Photographs can help to decide when treatment should be started
- Photographs can aid the assessment of a course of treatment. It can also help to decide whether an alternative course of treatment is necessary, or if the current treatment is beneficial.
- Photographs can be a useful tool for reassuring you that your condition has improved, as it isn’t always possible to remember how something looked six months ago! Photographs provide an irrefutable record of your progress.
- Pre and post-operative photographs provide a record of the appearance of your condition before and after surgery
- Photographs allow your Clinician to seek help and advice from specialists elsewhere in order to provide you with the best care possible
- Photographs of other patients can sometimes be used (with their permission) to show you the likely visual outcome of a particular course of treatment
- If you are unsure why photography is necessary in your particular case please ask your Clinician.
What should I expect?
When you come to the Department for photography you may need to wait for a few minutes in the waiting area while we prepare the studio for your appointment. You will be called into the photographic studio, where the photographer will check that you have understood the consent form that you have signed, and answer any questions that you may have prior to photography taking place. Depending on what photographs are required, you may be asked to remove some items of clothing or jewellery and/or makeup. Your photographer will explain what photographs they will take and position you in front of the lights to be photographed. If you prefer a photographer of a particular gender, or if you would like a chaperone to be in attendance, please ask at the desk when you arrive.
What our patients say
Stats
98.6% of patients said they would be likely to recommend our service.
Patient information leaflets/useful resources
Links to other services
If you require a copy of any images taken by the Medical Photography department, please contact the Access to Records team, who will be happy to assist you with your query.
The request should be made in writing to:
Access to Medical Records
The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust
Trust HQ and Education Centre
Pinderfields Hospital
Aberford Road
Wakefield
WF1 4DG
Telephone: 01924 543697/543700
Email: midyorks.accesstorecords@nhs.net
Useful links/support organisations
As clinical staff, our photographers aim to provide an efficient and professional service, and to maintain your comfort and dignity at all times. They adhere to the Code of Professional Conduct as set by the Institute of Medical Illustrators. You can find out more by visiting the website at www.imi.org.uk
Who will see the photographs?
Who will see the photographs?
When photographs are taken as part of your treatment, they are handled with the same confidentiality as any other part of your medical records. They will only be viewed by staff who are directly involved with your care. The only exceptions to this are if you have explicitly given consent for your images to be used either for the teaching of medical students and staff as part of an educational program, or for publication by your clinician.
Using photographs for teaching allows for a greater understanding of the appearance of various conditions, and can provide illustration for step-by-step instructions demonstrating, for example, surgical procedures.
Photographs are occasionally required for publication purposes in a journal, a book, or electronically.
In both of these instances, your clinician will discuss your consent decision with you prior to photography taking place, and you will be asked to sign a consent form by the photographer to indicate your choice.
For more information on the specific nature of your consent, see below.
Medical photography consent
As with many other medical procedures or investigations, it is necessary to obtain patient consent for medical photography. An electronic request will be sent to our team prior to your photographs being taken. Your Clinician should discuss consent with you before you sign. Consent must be signed by the patient or the patient’s parent or guardian if at all possible. When the photographer attends, they will ask you to sign a consent form.
There are three levels of consent, depending on the intended use of the photographs and the level of consent that you are willing to sign.
Level 1 – Confidential Record
If you sign or give verbal consent for Confidential Record the photographs will only be used in your medical records.
Level 2 – Confidential Record and Teaching
If you sign for teaching then the photographs may be used by clinicians to educate other medical staff. Your personal information will not be supplied with photographs released for teaching and your images will remain anonymous.
Level 3 – Confidential Record, Teaching and Publication
If the clinician wishes to publish your photographs then they will require signed consent for publication. Photographs will not be published unless this level of consent has been signed. Your personal information will not be supplied with photographs released for publication.
If you decide at a later date to change the level of consent that you signed, you can do so by contacting the Medical Photography department. The consent recorded in the database will then be updated and further copies of the photographs will not be released. Unfortunately, it is not possible to withdraw any material that has already been published.
If you have any questions about consent please ask your photographer when you visit.
Our photography team
Beth Lowe – Medical Photography Co-ordinator
Mick Wigglesworth – Chief Medical Photographer
Michaela Oxley – Senior Medical Photographer
Jenna Greenwood – Medical Photographer
Joe McLachlan – Medical Photographer
Alice Edwards – Trainee Medical Photographer
Medico-legal Photography
Why use Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trusts' medical photographers to take medico-legal photographs?
Our photographers are professionally trained medical illustration practitioners, and produce photographs of the highest quality that will legally qualify as an accurate record. The photographers are trained to recognise and capture medical conditions, injuries and scarring, and can be confidently relied upon to document even very subtle clinical appearances using advanced lighting techniques.
Standardised representational photography practice means they can exactly reproduce images over time to document any change.
Photographs are produced under controlled conditions using a fully colour-managed digital workflow. You can be confident that the resulting image is an accurate representation of the appearance of your client. All prints are produced using archival, pigmented inks and paper ensuring that there is no degradation to the quality of the image over time.
All images are stored digitally on a secure archive and can be easily retrieved if further copies are requested.
How to request medico-legal photographs
To request medico-legal photographs of your client simply write to the medical photography department at the address below stating:
- Client's name
- Client's address
- Client's contact phone number
- Date of birth
- Date of accident
- Your reference number
- Your contact details
Please include a brief disclaimer stating that no action is intended against The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust. The medical photography department is unable to participate if any action is intended against our Trust.
It is useful if you specify what needs documenting in order that the photographers can demonstrate the full extent of your client's injuries. The more information included the better.
The photographers will then contact your client directly to arrange a suitable time for them to come to the department for photographs to be taken as soon as possible. Photographs are usually dispatched within a few days of your client's visit to ensure that there is minimal delay caused by obtaining photographic evidence.
Costs
Studio sitting fee £65.00
CD-Rom £10.00
Photographic prints £4.00 each (no minimum order)
An invoice from our finance department will be sent to you following the release of the images.