James Cleland

James Cleland Horizon Fellow

Nuclear Medicine Superintendent

Chelsea Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust


Biography: After more than a decade in the private sector, James moved to Chelsea Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in July 2021 to become the new Nuclear Medicine Superintendent. His primary objective is to lead the Nuclear Medicine Department into the modern hybrid imaging era with the installation of a new SPECT/CT (a type of scanner) unit in 2022. He will be bringing new techniques, protocols, practices and clinical excellence to the department that will have a positive impact on the Trust’s patients who undergo molecular imaging.

James will also lead in the education of the new system to his department and visiting radiography students to ensure effective integration into patient imaging pathways. Patient care and experiences will play a critical role in the success of this new era and is a major focus that James will develop with his team.

Horizon Fellowship project summary: James identified how time is the most valuable asset to his patients, yet there are no services or products created to provide a simplified, efficient and interactive way to manage their imaging appointments. The intuitive solution to satisfy this unmet want and need is to provide a simple but powerful navigational tool in the form of a dependable, real time mobile application for nuclear medicine and potentially radiology patient bookings. The HL7standards, electronic health records, imaging referrals and direct patient user experiences will be major components of this digital value innovation.

Estimated number of patients / staff impacted by the project: Initially, the targeted audience will be breast and prostate oncology patients requiring nuclear medicine imaging before opening up to both West Middlesex and Chelsea and Westminster sites for all Nuclear Medicine referrals.

It is also important to receive feedback at the early stages from patient administrators within radiology to establish from the back-end, what workflows provide value and what doesn’t. The estimate of this initial strategy will be between 50 to 100 patient and staff unique user experiences per month.  

Goal(s) for time on the Horizon Fellowship programme: James aims to go beyond his comfort zone to grow as an innovator and deliver a project that will benefit patients and the Trust.