"Concerned over unsupervised PICC line insertion"

Currently, I have yearly scans due to a tumour, and for 2024 I was allocated to have a MRI scan in this hospital.

The person who greeted me identified themself as a "specialist radiographer", didn't wear uniform that I recognised, and their identification badge was either not visible or obscured.

They seemed quite unfamiliar with the procedure, but at this point I just thought they were new to the role and were yet to familiarise themselves.

My serious concerns came about when the PICC line was being inserted for the contrast. The person asked me if other people had found it difficult to locate my blood vessel which felt strange, as I'd like to think that a 'specialist' would be able to deal with different types of vein structures in different scenarios. Fortunately it didn't take long before the line was inserted and secured.

However, I was horrified to see them flushing the line in a manner as fast as they could. As a healthcare professional myself I know this to be against procedure and existing evidence. The 'specialist' appeared to be oblivious about what they had done. My whole arm went numb for a moment, and I reflected this to them. They flushed the line again just as fast.

I have many experiences of being mistreated by the NHS, and so did not immediately raise my concern about the relevant clinical skills involved, as in my experience, the issues were never ratified. There was also nothing visible to rectify - my veins on this occasion didn't burst.

It was only after the procedure when one of the actual radiographers greeted me that it dawned on me that the 'specialist' wasn't actually a specialist. The person was obviously not competent with PICC line insertions. Why were they not directly supervised in that procedure?

I am really disappointed that no one in the department bothered to tell me that I was going to be attended by someone other than the Radiographers.