Job overview
We are recruiting for a Advanced Radiographer Treatment Planning who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.
Radiotherapy Physics is part of the Medical Physics Department and provides a highly specialised clinical technical radiotherapy physics service to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.
The main role of this post is to carry out treatment planning and checking as part of a team in the Treatment Planning service. The successful candidate will be responsible on a day-to-day basis to the Superintendent Radiographer in Treatment Planning by providing highly specialised clinical technical treatment planning advice to the Radiotherapy Department and performing individual patient treatment plans in external beam radiotherapy planning
You will also liaise closely with a wide range of staff in Radiotherapy and Medical Physics, including medical and nursing staff, physicists, technicians and radiographers.
Personal initiative, a keen sense of responsibility, and a high degree of accuracy are expected in all duties. The Radiotherapy Physics department supports training of its staff and will, where practicable, encourage appropriate training through whatever media are best suited to the post-holder and situation.
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 post holder will produce routine and highly complex treatment plans including IMRT and carry out associated dosimetry calculations, in accordance with clinical prescription and agreed procedures.
Provide complex planning advice to clinical staff (Consultant Clinical Oncologists and registrars) on the effects of various treatment plan options on patient dose distributions. Discuss and agree approaches with clinical staff to create optimum treatment plans.
Check and approve treatment plans, dose calculations and templates produced by other members of staff.
Understand the operation of the treatment machines and appreciate their potential and limitations with regard to treatment techniques. Provide treatment radiographers with advice on planning aspects of the treatment and attend the set-up of patients on machines, as required.
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
* The post holder must have a Degree in Therapeutic Radiography or equivalent [egBSc, DCR, HNC plus experience.)
* The post holder should have a MSc or equivalent advanced theoretical specialist knowledge.
* The post holder must hold state registration as a radiographer or be eligible for the voluntary register of clinical technologists.
* The post holder must undertake Continuing Professional Development(CPD)
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
* The post holder must have a thorough understanding of radiotherapy including clinical aspects gained either through extensive experience of radiotherapy planning or a combination of radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery of treatment.
* The post holder must have clinical experience working in radiotherapy treatment planning and be able to demonstrate competence in planning complex treatments including IMRT/VMAT
* The post holder must have specialist training on and practical experience with a range of radiotherapy treatment planning systems, gained through experience and specialist theoretical short courses to M.Sc. level.
Skills
Essential criteria
* The post-holder must be able to communicate highly complex information to all levels and groups of professional staff. Must have good negotiating skills and be able to deal with complex and unpredictable situations.
* The post holder is expected to be able to use their judgement involving facts that require analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options such as, for example, in analysing the results of different complex treatment plans or processes, which may conflict, and deciding upon an appropriate course of action.
* The post holder is required to take responsibility for co-ordinating treatment, planning activities and resources (staffing and equipment). Liaising with other staff within Radiotherapy Physics, pre-treatment area, and treatment floor superintendent radiographer and arranging adjustments to planned activities as necessary, whilst working to tight clinical deadlines
* The post holder is frequently required to create spreadsheets, electronic documents and individual 3D computerised patient treatment plans for radiotherapy.
* The post holder is expected to act independently, withoutsupervision, within professional guidelines, but can refer to their manager. The post holder’s manager assesses work at intervals
* The post holder must be able to exercise own initiative when dealing with issues within own specialist area of competence.
* The post holder must be able to prioritise and manage own work.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
* The post holder must have highly specialist knowledge of the full range of work procedures and practices in radiotherapy treatment planning, to at least to Masters level.
* The post holder must have advanced knowledge across the full range of working procedures and practices in radiotherapy planning (external beam) building on theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
* The post holder must have knowledge of patient dosimetry in radiotherapy (external beam)
* The post holder must understand patient and staff risks arising from treatment planning computer system errors, equipment failure, treatment errors and incorrect dosimetry
* The post holder must have broad knowledge of radiotherapy techniques and clinical applications.
* The post holder must have in-depth understanding of relevant legislation, national standards, professional and other guidelines (eg IRR2017, IR(ME)R2017, ISO 9001, BSI andISO standards, professional and regulatory body reports and guidelines.)
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
Our values
We want our staff to believe in, demonstrate and live our values in everything we do.
Include
We value the diversity and experience of our community colleagues and partners, creating relationships and climates that provide an opportunity to share, collaborate and grow together.
Respect
We create a safe environment where we are curious of the lived experience of others, seek out best practice and are open to listening and hearing new ideas.
Improve
We are committed to consistently delivering excellent services and continuously looking to improve through a creative workforce that feels empowered to act in service of our shared purpose.
Committed to our Community
East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion for all job applicants, staff, patients and the wider community. We want to create a workforce which represents the communities we serve. We are on a journey to become a more inclusive organisation and we welcome applications from everyone regardless of their background. In particular we encourage applications from candidates with disabilities, and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who are currently under-represented in various parts of our workforce .
We understand the importance of balancing work and home life. We are committed to support flexible working for our staff wherever possible and all our employees are given the opportunity to discuss potential for flexible working.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and achieved our status in 2019.
We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact us by emailing resourcing.enh-tr@nhs.net
We are also proud to support our UK armed forces by supporting Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Veterans and military spouses/partners into employment and offering supportive policies that value their contribution to the community and to our Trust.
We are committed to being a carer-friendly environment, addressing the complex needs of families with caring responsibilities. In partnership with Carers in Hertfordshire, all our working carers have access to support from recruitment. We are also a member of Carers UK, providing resources to make balancing work and caring easier. Our approach is inclusive, recognizing diverse challenges and creating a supportive environment where carers feel valued.