Senior Physicist

Our client is at the forefront of innovative cancer care with their UK network of cancer centres. They provide the most suitable, state-of-the-art cancer treatment and an exceptional level of care to every patient. The centres deliver high-quality diagnosticimaging and the latest in advanced cancer treatments including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and, in the future, proton beam therapy across all centres.

To date, our client has three cancer centres open, two of which currently offer access to proton beam therapy, and a further four new centres planned in the next four years making a total of eight cancer centres around the UK. Their aim is to provide themajority of patients with a state-of-the-art cancer centre within a ninety-minute journey of their front door, wherever they are in the UK.

**Job Purpose**
- The purpose of this role is to be a radiotherapy Medical Physics Expert (MPE), 'closely involved’ in radiotherapy treatments on site and at other cancer centre sites as necessary.
- Reporting to the Deputy Head of Physics & Radiotherapy as clinical lead (professional manager) and to the Centre Manager as line manager and for matters regarding the Centre.
- Responsible, together with the other physicists on site, for all radiotherapy physics on site.
- Responsible to report and refer to the Deputy Head of Physics & Radiotherapy any situation or process falling outside clinical policies and procedures.

**Main duties and responsibilities**

Part of the RCC radiotherapy MPE team which is 'closely involved’ in all radiotherapy treatments, working closely with radiographers, clinical oncologists and other clinical staff and supporting the Lead Radiographer(s) in all aspects of safe and effectiveradiotherapy treatment delivery.

Being one of the radiotherapy Medical Physics Experts (MPE) on site who are specifically involved as an MPE in any plan/treatment on site which is unusual or varies from standard policy/procedure, or fully aware of such situations where an MPE from anotherRCC site has been involved, and if involved in such a situation for another site responsible to fully inform an MPE on that site.

Together with the other physicists on site:

- responsible for training and reviewing skills of all clinical staff on site in radiotherapy treatment machine QA and dosimetry, machine maintenance tasks, patient dosimetry, treatment planning and checking, and ensuring that up to date training recordsfor these categories are in place for all staff,
- responsible for calibration of the Linac and proton machine on site traceable to NPL standards,
- responsible for calibration of all dosimetry equipment on site,
- responsible to carry out (or review when carried out by other staff, e.g. radiographers, dosimetrists, technologists), radiotherapy QA on site including:

- daily and weekly QA (usually carried out by radiographers),
- all other Linac QA, scheduled or unscheduled, including IMRT patient specific QA,
- radiotherapy related QA on patient imaging equipment (CT, MR, IGRT etc),
- liaise with, and assistance to, manufacturers’ engineers in the event of any machine or equipment down-time or failure, over the telephone and in person, including out of hours working as necessary,
- liaise with, and assistance to, manufacturers’ engineers over scheduled servicing and maintenance, including out of hours working as necessary,
- keep up to date and thorough records of all machine and equipment QA, down-time, issues, maintenance and FCOs,
- keep the Lead Radiographer informed of potential problems affecting service delivery due to equipment and dosimetry related issues,
- scientific and technical responsibility for patient dosimetry and treatment planning on site, including data and software,
- oversight of all staff on site carrying out patient dosimetry and treatment planning, ensuring that all RCC policies and procedures are adhered to and staff are competent in these areas,
- carry out patient dosimetry and planning and plan-checking as required to support the dosimetrists on-site and to support treatment planning on other RCC sites,
- work with the RPS to ensure all radiation protection requirements are met and good practices followed on site,
- work as part of the RCC physics and dosimetry team and contributing to the on-going improvement and continuous development of the physics and dosimetry service across RCC,
- flexible working, including:

- some travel to attend meetings and training and to work in other RCC centres, and
- working some of the contractual hours outside of 9am-5pm or at weekends as necessary to fulfil the role, and to ensure that breakdowns or crises are resolved with minimum impact to service and treatment.

**Person Specification
- Essential Requirements**

**Qualifications and Registration**
- Registration with the UK HealthCare Professions Council (HCPC) as a Clinical Scientist in Radiotherapy Specialism
- Registration as a Medical Physics Expert for Radiotherapy

**Knowledge, Experience, Skills and Competencies**

Clinical experience as a Radiotherapy Physicist
- Working knowledge of IRR and IR(ME)R
- Linac QA & dose calibration