Principal Physicist - Treatment Planning

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 67,000 - 79,000; Full time

Job summary

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a section lead in Radiotherapy Physics at Band 8B level. The role involves managing treatment planning, providing expert advice, and leading a team within a collaborative environment. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in Radiotherapy Physics and relevant qualifications, including an honours degree and professional certifications. This position at North Middlesex Hospital combines professional responsibility with the opportunity to contribute to the development of innovative treatment techniques.

Qualifications

• Several years relevant post-graduate experience of Radiotherapy Physics.
• In depth knowledge of Radiotherapy Treatment Planning including IMRT and SABR.
• Ability to lead and motivate a team.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and manage the Treatment Planning section.
• Provide complex scientific and technical advice to clinical staff.
• Contribute towards the commissioning of new treatment techniques.

Skills

Leadership

Complex problem solving

Communication

Education

(1st or 2nd class) Honours degree in a physical science

Relevant Masters or higher degree

HCPC Registered Clinical Scientist

Medical Physics Expert certificate (RPA2000)

Tools

Computerised planning systems

Job description

If you want to be part of the Royal Free London team, search our current vacancies below to find the job for you.

NHS AfC: Band 8b

Main area Radiotherapy Physics Grade NHS AfC: Band 8b Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 391-NMUH- 7215811

Site North Middlesex University Hospital Town London Salary £67,950 - £78,028 per annum inclusive of HCAS (pro-rata if LTFT) Salary period Yearly Closing 26/06/2025 23:59

The North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust is a medium-sized acute and community trust with over 525 beds and over 600 community staff, serving more than 600,000 people living across Enfield and Haringey and the surrounding areas, including Barnet and Waltham Forest.

The hospital has been on its present site for over 100 years and was established as an NHS trust by statute in December 1990. The Trust’s services are provided on the North Middlesex University Hospital site as well as a range of community sites across the London Borough of Enfield, including at partner hospitals. They provide services in collaboration with a range of partners, including local GPs, acute, mental health and other community health service providers across North Central London.

In the year ending 31 March 2022, the Trust reported a turnover of £419.7m and employed almost 4,000 staff. Following the transfer of Enfield Community Services on 1st April 2023, this has increased as we have welcomed over 600 new staff including District Nurses, Community Matrons, Community Physiotherapists, Psychologists and many more across a wide range of adult and children’s community services in Enfield. It is an exciting time to join North Mid as we continue our journey to become an integrated care organisation to deliver high quality, seamless care in our local communities, with a focus on tackling health inequalities.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity to join our friendly, forward-thinking Radiotherapy Physics department in a key role at theNorth Middlesex Hospital sitein North London.

You will be section lead at AfC Band 8B, responsible for the safe delivery and development of Radiotherapy Treatment Planning.

The role is autonomous, so you will be expected to carry out your duties without supervision, while being professionally responsible to the Head ofRadiotherapy Physics. You will act as a Medical Physics Expert under IR(ME)R, providing expert advice to the Radiotherapy department and to
members of the Radiotherapy Physics team.

The department provides a comprehensive physics service to support the delivery of radiotherapy treatment at North Middlesex Hospital. This includes all treatment planning, machine quality assurance and the provision of molecular radiotherapy. The department consists of 9 clinical scientists, including this post, 6 dosimetrists and 5 engineering and technical staff.

The Radiotherapy department has a mix of Varian TrueBeam and Halcyon Linacs and an XStrahl superficial unit. Varian Eclipse is used for all treatment planning activities, and we have ongoing projects to implement and expand knowledge based planning, AI auto-contouring, scripting and automation, and lots more besides.

Main duties of the job

Provide leadership in, and day to day management of, the Treatment Planning section.

Participate in acceptance testing and commissioning of new equipment and software as appropriate.

Contribute towards the commissioning and development of new treatment techniques.

P rovide complex scientific and technical advice to Radiotherapy consultants and other clinical staff regarding patients’ treatment.

Provide support to physics computing in Radiotherapy, taking responsibility for the organisation and verification of software and hardware upgrades to Treatment Planning Systems and associated systems.

Act as an Operator and Medical Physics Expert under the definitions of the IR(ME)R regulations in accordance with Trust policies and practices.

Working for our organisation

North Mid is part of North Central London integrated care system – consisting of the NHS and Local authority organisations in Camden, Islington, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey. As with other ICS’s, we are working increasingly closely with partners and indeed many of our financial and performance objectives are measured at this system level. Whilst all organisations remain as standalone, statutory bodies we have an ICS infrastructure for making shared decisions and agreeing shared approaches.

We are proud of our staff and want to ensure their training allows them to provide excellent clinical care. We are also a training unit for medical students from UCL and St George’s University Grenada, and for nursing and midwifery students from Middlesex and City Universities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1.

1. Clinical Scientific

Treatment Planning

1.1. Supervise, advise and produce routine and highly complex treatment planning for external beam radiotherapy. Use computerised planning systems to design and customise treatment plans. Analyse requirements and make complex judgements regarding treatment parameters and patient dose effects to produce the required dose distribution over the treatment volume. Take responsibility for the accurate production of individualised treatment plans and associated dosimetry calculations.

1.2. Supervise, advise, check and approve highly complex treatment plans produced by other members of staff. Ensure second/independent checks are performed on all external beam plans.

1.3. Advise clinical staff on the effects of various treatment plan options on patient dose distributions. Discuss, negotiate and agree approaches with clinical staff to create optimum treatment plans and advise on aspects of the treatment and patient set-up, as required. Often these negotiations take place under time pressure, directly affecting immediate patient management.

1.4. To contribute towards the commissioning and development of new treatment techniques.

1.5. To take responsibility for clinical application of new treatment techniques, including IMRT and SABR.

1.6. Take responsibility for the accuracy and applicability of external beam radiation data used in the treatment planning process. Organise and manage the maintenance of the treatment planning computer systems, including commissioning, upgrades, back-up, archiving and quality assurance.

1.7. Take responsibility for the organisation and verification of software and hardware upgrades to Treatment Planning Systems and associated systems e.g. independent monitor unit check programs.

1.8. Take responsibility for and contribute towards the development and checking of in-house software, including databases used in the treatment planning process.

1.9. Oversee the flow of treatment data between Planning and Treatment computer systems.

General

1.

1.10. Provide leadership in and day to day management of the Treatment Planning section.

1.11. Provide scientific and managerial cover for Principal colleagues in the other sections.

1.12. To participate in the routine provision of the Radiotherapy Physics service as required.

1.13. Perform and advise on dosimetry measurements on patients. Provide advice to clinical staff and support developments in in-vivo dosimetry and megavoltage imaging.

1.14. Provide support to physics computing in Radiotherapy. Write software to the requirements of the Department and adapt existing software packages as required. Monitor and resolve problems on computing systems in Radiotherapy and Radiotherapy Physics.

1.15. Participate in acceptance testing and commissioning of new equipment as appropriate.

1.16. Provide complex scientific and technical advice to Radiotherapy consultants and other clinical staff regarding patients’ treatment.

1.17. Act as liaison contact for identified radiotherapy equipment. Oversee work carried out on this equipment and give physics advice and direction as required. Investigate and resolve complex problems on complex, patient-critical radiotherapy and associated equipment.

1.18. Act as an Operator and Medical Physics Expert under the definitions of the IR(ME)R regulations in accordance with Trust policies and practices.

1.19. Investigate incidents and errors related to their section and ensure that the reports and action plans are made as appropriate. Report any patient related incident to the Head of Radiotherapy Physics, RPA and Lead Clinician.

2. Managerial

2.1. Prioritise and manage own work to meet agreed outcomes.

2.2. Oversee audit and statistics within area of responsibility of the postholder and manage the record keeping activities of their section.

2.3. Assist the Head of Radiotherapy Physics in management of the section and advise on policy decisions and procurement.

2.4. Organise, manage and supervise the professional work of other staff working in the postholder’s area of responsibility and review their competencies.

2.5. Perform appraisals of staff as appropriate by grade and area of work.

2.6. Participate in the recruitment of Radiotherapy Physics staff.

2.7. Review the procedures and processes within their section on an ongoing basis to keep them effective and up to date.

2.8. Take responsibility for Physics input in multi-disciplinary working parties, including chairing, in order to negotiate changes to procedures and protocols affecting Radiotherapy Physics and Radiotherapy.

2.9. Manage and supervise professional and project work of other staff in their area of responsibility.

3. Teaching, training and research

3.1. Provide practical training to physicists, medics and radiographers in their area of responsibility.

3.2. Organise and participate in the training and induction of other Physics staff, as required.

3.3. Supervise trainee clinical scientists, MSc student projects and other departmental visitors.

3.4. Present original work at meetings and conferences, and in publication. Present seminars and feedback on meetings.

3.5. Lead research and development projects and participate in other projects and clinical audit.

3.6. Participate in providing appropriate training in Radiation Safety to all Radiotherapy workers.

4. Professional

4.1. Participate in an approved Continuing Professional Development scheme and maintain HCPC registration.

4.2. Keep abreast of the latest technical and scientific developments and their applications in medical and associated fields. Attend suitable seminars and courses as part of training and personal development and to further the work of the Department.

4.3. Maintain a thorough knowledge of current relevant legislation.

4.4. Ensure all activities are carried out within a quality framework and conform to Statutory Regulations, approved Codes of Practice and Local Safety Rules.

5.1. Ensure compliance with accredited Quality Systems in the areas of work for which the post holder carries responsibility. Participate in the development and routine operation of quality systems.

5.2. Carry out all duties in accordance with the requirements of the Health & Safety at Work Act, relevant Statutory Regulations, Approved Codes of Conduct and Local Rules.

5.3. Work hours necessary for the proper and efficient performance of the work. In practice, the appointee will occasionally be required to perform duties outside the normal working hours of the Department.

5.4. When working in other departments, the postholder will liaise with local heads of department, medical consultants, superintendents, nursing sisters or their representatives as appropriate, adhering to local policies and practices. The post holder will behave courteously and professionally at all times and seek to ensure that the highest level of service is provided by Medical Physics.

5.5. Perform other appropriate duties which may be required from time to time by the Head of Service, Medical Physics.

5.6. The postholder will be expected to actively participate in annual appraisals and set objectives in conjunction with their manager. Performance will be monitored against set objectives.

Person specification

Education and qualifications

• (1st or 2nd class) Honours degree in a physical science or equivalent.
• Relevant Masters or higher degree.
• HCPC Registered Clinical Scientist.
• Medical Physics Expert certificate (RPA2000).
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to lead and motivate a team.
• Ability to deal with complex and unpredictable situations.
• Ability to organise own workload.
• Ability to communicate complex information to colleagues and other professionals.

Knowledge & Experience

• Several years relevant post-graduate experience of Radiotherapy Physics.
• In depth knowledge and experience of Radiotherapy Treatment Planning, including IMRT, SABR..
• Broad experience in the clinical environment.
• Experience and knowledge of quality management systems.
• Experience of image guided radiotherapy techniques.
• Proven record of research and development.

Personal qualities and Values

• Enthusiastic and motivated.
• Clarity of thought and articulate in presenting ideas and opinions.
• Demonstrable ability to meet Trust values

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

You will only be contacted by the Recruitment Team via email if you are shortlisted for this post. Please ensure therefore that you check your e-mail account regularly.

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If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks youridentity and right to work documentation will be verifiedremotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a “selfie” using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk

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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.

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