Job summary
- Main area
- 317 Radiotherapy Dose Planning - FH
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 317-2024-27-28-DR
- Employer
- The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Freeman Hospital
- Town
- 317 01 Freeman Hospital
- Salary
- £50,952 - £57,349 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/07/2024 23:59
- Interview date
- 16/08/2024
Employer heading
Advanced Practice Specialist Dosimetrist
Band 8a
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest, largest and most successful teaching NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 16,000 staff and an annual income of £1 billion.
We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.
We’re also proud to be the second largest provider of specialised services in the country. This means we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
Our staff oversee around 1.84 million patients ‘contacts’ each year, delivering high standards of healthcare.
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.
Job overview
The Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) has a vacancy for an Advanced Practice Specialist Dosimetrist based at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. We are looking to appoint a well-motivated and highly experienced dosimetrist who will be responsible for developing the technical and practical aspects of implementing adaptive radiotherapy within the department.
This post holder will provide professional technical leadership in the above area of expertise within NCCC, advancing and introducing best practice into the clinical workflow. As well as developing their own skills to further advance adaptive radiotherapy, they will be expected to provide specialist training to Radiographers, Clinical Technologists, Specialty registrars and other healthcare professionals and also assess staff competencies in this and other areas.
The candidate must have appropriate professional registration (e.g. on the Voluntary Register as a Clinical Technologist or registered with the Health and Care Professions Council if a radiographer).
- Interview date: Week beginning 16th August 2024
- 37 hours 30 minutes /week
- You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy
Main duties of the job
The radiotherapy department benefits from state of the art equipment which includes dedicated planning MRI scanner facilities, 3 Siemens CT scanners with 4D capability, access to a PET/CT facility, 2 Tomotherapy treatment units, 2 Varian TrueBeam STx linacs with stereotactic capability, 7 Varian TrueBeam linacs, a high doserate Flexitron afterloader and SXT. Since the introduction of Raystation treatment planning system into clinical use the section is responsible for VMAT planning for the majority of disease sites. The Centre is committed to delivering a high quality service, maintaining the highest specification equipment and contributing to radiotherapy research and development.
Working for our organisation
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest, largest and most successful teaching NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 16,000 staff and an annual income of £1 billion.
We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.
We’re also proud to be the second largest provider of specialised services in the country. This means we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
Our staff oversee around 2 million patients ‘contacts’ each year, delivering high standards of healthcare.
Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust.
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- Leads on local and operational delivery network adaptive radiotherapy implementation by introducing best practice into the clinical workflow.
- Provides professional and technical leadership in the above area of expertise within NCCC and across the local operational delivery network of providers.
- Maintains and develops high standards of service provision in line with national guidance throughout their area of responsibility.
- Develops, implements and monitors clinical and organisational strategies within areas of expertise.
- Actively involved in research and development projects related to the implementation of adaptive radiotherapy workflows into routine practice.
- Develops own skills to further advance the adaptive radiotherapy implementation using the appropriate imaging modalities.
- Supervises, mentors and trains less experienced staff in all radiotherapy dose planning techniques.
- Responsible for assessment of competence of less experienced staff in radiotherapy dose planning techniques.
- The post holder undertakes regular performance appraisals of junior staff to ensure their continued development.
- Develops and leads the radiotherapy adaptive radiotherapy strategy, including skill mix activities across the network.
- The post holder deputises for the principal dosimetrist and provides leadership and management of various aspects of the treatment planning service as directed.
Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Person specification
Qualifications & Education
Essential criteria
- A recognised Degree in relevant subject or diploma of the College of Radiographers or equivalent.
- Appropriate post-graduate degree at Master’s level, or equivalent level of specialist knowledge gained through experience plus additional further specialist training. (Evidence of attendance at conferences or training courses intended to extend the breadth and depth of knowledge)
- Must have appropriate professional registration (e.g. on the Voluntary Register as a Clinical Technologist or registered with the Health and Care Professions Council if a radiographer).
Desirable criteria
- Education or teaching qualification.
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge, experience and skills in medical or scientific equipment relevant to working area
- Advanced knowledge of relevant legislation, standards and safety principles relating to the working area.
- Knowledge and understanding of current radiation legislation relevant to this role
- Evidence of knowledge of current scientific and technological developments
- Knowledge of Quality Systems as applied to radiotherapy
- Highly specialist knowledge of Governance issues including ethical and regulatory considerations
- Advanced specialist in depth knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology relevant to the area of work to enable accurate outlining of radiotherapy volumes required for treatment planning.
- Advanced knowledge of radiotherapy imaging modalities and their application to the planning process.
- Advanced in-depth specialist knowledge and understanding of the application of physical and engineering sciences to medicine.
- Excellent knowledge of IT software packages (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and experience of applying them.
- Significant current experience in treatment planning for radiotherapy for a wide range of disease sites employing advanced techniques.
- Previous experience in radiotherapy volume outlining for treatment planning.
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of career progression demonstrating both breadth and depth of experience.
- Previous experience in adaptive radiotherapy processes and workflows
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Ability to lead and complete project work within a defined timescale.
- Ability to work both independently and as a member of the team
- Good communication skills with all staff groups.
- Good teaching and training skills.
- Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines and maintain technical services.
- Ability to communicate scientific advice to all staff groups.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
The postholder will have regular contact with vulnerable people 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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Nick Willis
- Job title
- Principal Dosimstrist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0191 2138498
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