Job overview
We are recruiting for a Head of Radiation Protection and Consultant Clinical Scientist who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.
The post holder will also support a number of external Trusts under service level agreements.
The radiation protection department is part of the wider radiation services team at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre and provides specialist scientific advice and technical support to radiology, and other users of imaging including radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, breast screening, u/s and MRI.
The Radiation Protection Department includes scientific and technical support services, radiation protection advice, quality assurance for imaging equipment, a personal dosimetry service for the assessment of dose to staff, radiation safety surveys. The Trust is part of the ImageEast network, and the post holder will lead on medical physics contribution to several workstreams.
The post holder will act as the lead Radiation Protection Adviser and Medical Physics Expert for the Trust and other staff groups and patients in the Trust and other specified organisations.
At the heart of everything we do are our core values: Include, Respect, and Improve. We encourage you to embrace these values throughout the recruitment process and in your role with us.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will be a HCPC registered Clinical Scientist, qualified to act as an RPA and MPE in diagnostic radiology with sufficient experience to work at consultant scientist level.
You will have excellent communication skills as you will lead on the provision of radiation protection and scientific support to several Employers including a number of NHS Trusts.
You will be required to work alongside local clinical and managerial service leads to ensure organisations deliver statutory obligations with respect to the safe use of ionising radiation.
The post holder will line manage senior clinical scientists and technologists and lead on staff development and training, including the provision of trainees undertaking the STP programme or equivalent, MPE and RPA training and HSST.
Ideally, we are looking for someone who already has MPE and RPA certification, but if you have begun to work towards this and expect to be able to submit a portfolio within twelve months of appointment, we would still like to hear from you.
Working for our organisation
At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.
We run the following hospitals:
The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
Hertford County, Hertford
Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC), Northwood
We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation, and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.
We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
ENHT is seeking to maintain and expand the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre staff as we move to an exciting new future.
We welcome applications from those who would relish the opportunity to be part of new and developing cancer service, building on the excellent reputation, research and patient experience the Cancer Centre already delivers.
In addition, you will receive a High-Cost Area Supplement of 15% of your basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £4,552 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum pro rata.
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role.
Person specification
Qualifications / Training
Essential criteria
* Good (1st or 2nd Class) Honours degree in a relevant subject (physics or engineering).
* Postgraduate qualification in a relevant branch of physics or medical physics to the level of at least a Master’s degree (MSc).
* State registration with the Health & Care Professions Council, as a Clinical Scientist.
* Corporate Membership of the IPEM or equivalent
* At least 5 years relevant experience as a clinical scientist
* Certificate of competence to practise as a Radiation Protection Adviser
* MPE certificate of competence or on the active RPA 2000 MPE list
Desirable criteria
* Completion of HSST scheme or equivalent
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
* Highly specialised training and practical experience in Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Protection
* Highly specialised training and practical experience in the use and quality assurance testing of a range of highly technical equipment
* Experience in the application of relevant legislation, national standards, professional and other guidelines and be able to communicate their application to other health professionals including senior management.
* Experience of working in teams
* Experience of auditing others
* Experience of clinical service provision
Skills
Essential criteria
* Good communicator of highly complex and sensitive information to patients and members of the public. Able to communicate highly complex scientific data to multi-disciplinary staff.
* Ability to analyse and interpret complex data, compare ranges of options, make judgements from the results and determine the cause of erroneous results.
* Ability to interpret technical and scientific situations, in which facts may conflict, and judging measures required to deal with them.
* Highly developed physical accuracy, manual dexterity skills and good eye-sight to achieve precision and speed in the use of sophisticated scientific and technical equipment
* Expertise in using VDUs and have the ability to create and develop electronic documents, spreadsheets and Clinical Applications software.
* Ability to teach, train and supervise students and other members of staff across the whole range of Radiation Protection.
* Ability to apply knowledge and experience of practical radiation protection and radioactive waste management in order to propose and manage the implementation of new procedures and equipment, and the development of existing ones.
* Ability to manage priorities and respond flexibly to changing requirements.
* Occasional requirement to exert moderate physical effort for several short periods during a shift
* Frequent requirement for prolonged concentration
* Frequent exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances (e.g. when communicating results of radiation dose measurements to staff or patients)
* Occasional exposure to highly unpleasant working conditions
Knowledge
Essential criteria
* Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in Medical Physics and Radiation Protection (clinical, technical and scientific).
* In depth knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation, national standards, professional and other guidelines (IRR 2017, IR(ME)R 2017)
* Knowledge of budget holding and financial resource management
* Extensive knowledge and expertise across clinical, research and development and personnel areas
* Specialist knowledge of the techniques employed to measure the performance and radiological safety of a wide variety of digital and analogue state of the art X-ray imaging equipment.
* Specialist knowledge on the dose measurement techniques of ionising radiations including the various techniques for measurement of patient dose in radiography, fluoroscopy, cardiology, CT, mammography and dental
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
* Experience and evidence of engagement around equality, diversity and inclusion issues in relation to policy, service development and service delivery in respect of both services to users and the management of staff
* Role model our Trust values every day
* Must be able to concentrate where the work pattern is unpredictable.
* Be flexible in their approach to coordinating workload
* Be prepared to work in an environment where there is a radiation hazard.
* Be able to work both independently and within a small team.