Clinical Scientist or Therapeutic Radiographer, National RTTQA Group

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 43,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK seeks a Clinical Scientist/Therapeutic Radiographer to join their team. The role involves leading QA programs for clinical trials and contributing to innovative radiotherapy developments. Candidates should possess an HCPC qualification and experience in radiotherapy settings. This position offers a supportive environment with opportunities for flexible working and professional growth.

Benefits

High Cost Area Supplement

Flexible working opportunities

Commitment to a positive work-life balance

Qualifications

• Experience working in a radiotherapy environment.
• Registration as a Therapeutic Radiographer or Clinical Scientist.
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development.

Responsibilities

• Lead physicist on trials within the RTTQA Group portfolio.
• Design and develop the RT QA programme for trials.
• Collaborate on papers for publication and present at meetings.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Ability to work as part of a team

Highly developed physical accuracy and dexterity

Education

HCPC registered radiographer or clinical scientist qualification

Postgraduate qualification in relevant subject

Tools

Linear accelerators

Treatment planning systems

Job description

Here at East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust,

Our mission is:
Providing high-quality, compassionate care for our communities

Our vision to 2030 is:
To be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service

Job overview

We are recruiting for a Clinical Scientist/Therapeutic Radiographer who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients. The post is based at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre .

The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic, motivated, have exemplary communication skills and enjoy working as part of a dynamic team.

The RTTQA Group is a centralised UK resource which designs and implements QA programmes for all NIHR CRN Portfolio trials that include a radiotherapy component. The group is a single multi-professional network of radiographers, clinical scientists, clinicians and IT staff working collaboratively across a number of NHS sites.

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.

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 have the opportunity to be involved in practice changing developments in areas including proton beam therapy, adaptive treatments, MR-Linac and SABR. This is an exciting time in radiotherapy addressing high level RT QA and audit for radiotherapy trials.

You will be the lead physicist on at least one of the trials within the national RTTQA Group portfolio and will be expected to design and develop the RT QA programme for that trial.

You will liaise with both the extended trial team and the individual recruiting centres on aspects related to trial RTQA.

Prospective applicants are welcome to discuss this post, in particular the opportunities for part-time and flexible working and alternative RTTQA site base with Elizabeth Miles (RTTQA Group Lead) - [e-mail] 02038262329.

Applicants not meeting the person specification at band 7 and anticipating registration as a clinical scientist within 12 months may be considered for a post at band 6.

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 the UK new technologies and techniques are used and often introduced in clinical trials. The RTTQA Group engages early in the clinical trial development process. You would have the opportunity to be involved in practice changing developments in areas including proton beam therapy, adaptive treatments, MR-Linac, SABR and SRS.

In addition, you will receive a High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of your basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £4,314 and a maximum payment of £5,436 per annum pro rata.

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification information pack for further detailed information regarding this role.

Person specification

Qualifications/Training

Essential criteria

• Qualification Appropriate to registration as an HCPC registered radiographer or clinical scientist (radiotherapy physics)
• Registration as a Therapeutic Radiographer or Clinical Scientist (or eligible to apply within 1 year for registration)
• Post graduate qualification in a relevant subject or evidence of study at this level
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience working within a radiotherapy or radiotherapy physics environment
• Specialist training and practical experience on linear accelerators, treatment planning systems and dosimetry

Desirable criteria

• Training in either stereotactic physics or brachytherapy
• Experience of multimodality imaging and adaptive treatment delivery techniques
• Experience of rotational techniques, gating and/or stereotactic radiotherapy.
• Clinical Trial work

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to communicate complex information to other professional groups
• Ability to present complex information in scientific papers to large multidisciplinary groups of staff at national and international meetings
• Prepare and collaborate on papers for publication in national and international journals
• Able to use judgement involving complex facts that require analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options, for example in analysing the results of scientific measurements or processes, which may conflict, and deciding upon an appropriate course of action
• Able to create spreadsheets, electronic documents and individual 3D computerised patient treatment plans for radiotherapy
• Have highly developed physical accuracy and dexterity in order to be able to manipulate equipment, for example, in setting up and using delicate instruments to make precise measurements to detect and calibrate radiation doses within "phantom" patients. The post holder is also required to use 3D visualisation skills in treatment planning
• Expected to work independently, organising own workload, within professional guidelines, following protocols where these exist and referring to his/her manager where necessary. The individual's manager assesses work at intervals
• Ability to concentrate when report writing and analysing results. Occasionally be required may have to change tasks to accommodate changing workload priorities
• Able to concentrate where the work pattern is unpredictable. Occasionally, there will be a requirement for prolonged concentration

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of presenting scientific papers at national meetings
• Previous experience of publishing work
• Use of Macros in Excel
• Relevant use of computer programming skills

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Specialist knowledge of the planning and treatment of patients.
• Knowledge of patient and machine dosimetry QC in radiotherapy
• 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
• Understanding of relevant legislation, national standards, professional and other guidelines (e.g. IRR, IRMER, ISO 9001, BSI and ISO standards, professional and regulatory body reports and guidelines)

Other Requirements

Essential criteria

• Must be highly self-motivated
• Able to work with radiotherapy equipment and to manoeuvre associated physics equipment
• The post holder works in an environment of cancer patients, and may have to interact with them (for example, in performing measurements on a patient undergoing radiotherapy). Therefore there may be occasional exposure to distressing circumstances
• The post holder must be prepared to work in an environment where there is a radiation hazard, and so must understand the hazards posed by ionising radiation and sources of high voltage
• Work hours necessary for the proper and efficient performance of the work. This may necessitate some out of hours work. Saturday working may occasionally be required with compensatory time off during Monday to Friday
• 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

Desirable criteria

• May occasionally be expected to manoeuvre, within the limits required for manual handling, heavy loads such as radiotherapy dosimetry "phantoms" for several short p

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 [e-mail]

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.

When you apply...

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date in certain circumstances. Please ensure that you make your application as soon as possible.

All correspondence relating to vacancies will be via the e-mail address you have provided on your application form. Some servers automatically send e-mails to your junk mail so please check as well as your inbox.

As a publicly funded employer, we need to ensure we utilise our funds responsibly, this may mean we are unable to support sponsorship required to gain the right to work for particular positions. We strongly advise you to contact the line manager or a member of the Resourcing Team before applying to confirm if we will be able to support with sponsorship for that post.

King's Trust Support

If you're aged between 16 and 30 years-old, you can get FREE employability support from The King's Trust. The King's Trust will help build your CV and cover letter, offer advice and top tips for future interviews and support you with research about working in the NHS. Please contact Enquiries.H&[e-mail] for support.

Secondments/Fixed term

Where a vacancy is advertised as a temporary position, the duration will be specified in the advert. If the vacancy becomes permanent towards the end of the specified duration, the successful applicant may not be required to re-apply and can be slotted into the role on a permanent basis if appropriate.

If you are an internal applicant applying for a temporary working arrangement, please see the attached notes on secondments.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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

• Clinical Scientist/Therapy Radiographer - Applicant Pack (PDF, 632.3KB)
• MVCC (PDF, 187.2KB)
• Must Read Guidance Notes - Application Forms (PDF, 91.9KB)
• Guidance Notes for Applicants - How your data is used and stored (PDF, 416.6KB)
• Policy Statement - Recruitment of Ex-Offenders (PDF, 101.1KB)
• Guidance on secondments for internal applicants (PDF, 101.3KB)
• Showcasing our teaching commitment (PDF, 5.0MB)