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Job summary

Main area
Radiotherapy Physicist
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
391-RFL-5708212-C
Employer
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Royal Free Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£58,698 - £65,095 Per annum inclusive of HCAS
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
06/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

NHS

Band 8a Principal Radiotherapy Physicist

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Our trust has around 10,000 staff serving 1.6 million patients. It comprises Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital and more than 30 services in the community.  This larger scale organisation provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue our pioneering work, particularly in finding ways to deliver even better care to our patients.

Our mission is to deliver world class care and expertise in our clinical services, underpinned by world class teaching and research and we will continue to measure our progress against our five governing objectives: excellent outcomes, excellent patient and staff experience, excellent value for taxpayers’ money, being safe and meeting our external duties, and building a strong organisation.

Everyone is welcome at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME, gender equality, staff carers and people with disabilities and lived experiences to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

Click here to view our video Welcome to the Royal Free

Click on the logo below to see the video of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust values

 

World Class Logo

 

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen within the Radiotherapy Physics service for a Band 8A Radiotherapy Physicist. The successful candidate should ideally be an MPE however applicants in the process of applying for certification will be considered. The applicant is required to participate in all the routine support for the radiotherapy physics service, however they may subsequently be required to oversee and maintain a specific part of the physics service. 

Main duties of the job

Please see attached job description for more information about this role and working at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Free Radiotherapy service has 2 Varian Truebeam linear accelerators, a recently installed Xstrahl system, a Canon (Toshiba) large bore CT-scanner (due to be replaced in next 4 months), access to PET and MRI and the Philips Pinnacle treatment planning system ver16.2 (expected replacement mid 2024), along with a wide range of dosimetry and engineering support equipment. Varian’s Aria ver 17 patient management system integrates the service with the accredited quality management system supported on “Q-Pulse”. The service has a well-established VMAT/IMRT and SABR workload with the SABR service implementing or supporting all the tumour sites within the NHSE SABR expansion program. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The successful candidate is required to be able demonstrate the Trust values, and the responsibilities of the job description.

Person specification

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Able to prioritise and manage own workload with effective time management skills. Flexible, able to adjust commitments when required and work to tight deadlines (checking complex treatment plans to a tight deadline for example).
  • Able to deal with complex and unpredictable situations (providing advice during equipment failure for example).
Desirable criteria
  • Able to project manage effectively, setting quality standards, timescales, performance targets and goals, monitoring progress, checking results, providing support to other team members when required and writing reports.
  • Ability to teach and train others, including other staff groups, on highly specialist subjects.
  • Able to perform independent applied research and development.
  • Able to prepare and present scientific papers at local, national and international meetings and conferences.
  • Able to develop systems and write software and scripts (Python for example) relevant to radiotherapy computer systems

Personal Qualities & Attributes

Essential criteria
  • Able to communicate highly complex information to other healthcare professionals and equipment manufacturers
  • Able to exercise own initiative when dealing with issues within own specialist area of competence.
  • High degree of physical accuracy and dexterity, for making precision measurements and equipment adjustments using fine tools
  • Ability to motivate a wide cross-section of healthcare professionals and lead a team approach to work.
  • Able to maintain frequent periods of prolonged concentration, with often unpredictable work patterns (when collecting or analysing beam data and providing clinical advice for example).
  • Able to deal with occasional distressing circumstances when (working with terminally ill patients for example).
Desirable criteria
  • Able to lift and move medium/heavy weights (beam data acquisition equipment and phantoms for example).

Royal Free World Class Values

Essential criteria
  • Demonstrable ability to meet the Trust Values

Education & professional Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Honours first degree (1st or 2nd) in physics or containing a major physics component.
  • Relevant MSc or higher degree or equivalent level of knowledge.
  • HCPC registration as a Clinical Scientist.
  • Certified Medical Physics Expert on national register or application in progress
Desirable criteria
  • Corporate Membership of IPEM (MIPEM) or eligible for membership
  • Chartered scientist (CSci) or eligible for the award.

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Highly developed specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of radiation dosimetry, treatment unit technology, treatment planning systems, and computer systems in radiotherapy, sufficient to act as a Medical Physics Expert in these areas
  • Specialist training and practical experience of a wide range of radiotherapy equipment and computing equipment, including linear accelerators, treatment planning systems and dosimetry equipment
  • Advanced knowledge of patient and machine dosimetry and quality assurance in radiotherapy
  • Highly developed knowledge of clinical issues and their implications for radiotherapy physics practice
  • Broad understanding of patient and staff risks arising from equipment failure and staff error.
  • High level of understanding of patient and staff risks arising from treatment planning computer system errors, equipment failure, treatment errors and incorrect dosimetry
  • Broad knowledge of radiotherapy techniques and clinical applications.
  • In depth knowledge of relevant legislation, national standards, professional and other guidelines, quality systems, local rules and safety practices (for example ISO 9001 2000, Health and Safety, COSHH).
  • Understanding of hazards posed by, and precautions needed with: ionising radiation, non -ionising radiation and electrical hazards .
Desirable criteria
  • Broad knowledge of applied radiation physics and associated areas within medical physics
  • Relevant clinical experience in radiotherapy physics post registration.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Nursing TimesApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleDisability confident employerTimewise PartnerCare Quality Commission - Requires improvementEnei MemberArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Neil Dancer
Job title
Head of Radiotherapy Physics
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0207 830 2113
Additional information

Katia Pasciuti
Deputy Head of Radiotherapy Physics
[email protected]
0207 830 2113

If you have problems applying, contact

Address
Recruitment Support
Open Monday to Friday
08:30 am to 17:30pm
Telephone
01629 702338
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