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Job overview
The Radiological Physics and Radiation Safety team at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust are looking to recruit a Band 8b Principal Physicist. We are a friendly and dynamic team based at the Royal Free Hospital in central London, delivering diagnostic radiology physics services to our trust and several other NHS organisations. Working closely with our clinical colleagues, our aim is to provide a responsive, effective and high quality service for the benefit of patients and staff.
You must be an HCPC registered Clinical Scientist and hold a certificate of competence to act as a Medical Physics Expert for diagnostic radiology. The team actively supports training and development and there will be plenty of opportunities for these activities.
We are a forward-thinking department, with team members involved in innovative work both locally and nationally. We support flexible, hybrid and part-time working.
Main duties of the job
You will be involved in the collation and analysis of patient doses including development of dose management systems; optimisation of patient radiological procedures; play a lead role in the procurement, acceptance, commissioning and routine quality assurance of X-ray equipment; and provide general support for IR(ME)R 2017 and IRR17 compliance. A substantial part of the team’s work is providing services to the London and East of England regions’ Breast Screening Programmes and you will be actively involved in these activities.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description for more information about this role and working at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
Person specification
Others
Desirable
- Clean driving license
- Own car for visits to other hospitals carrying equipment
Experience
Essential
- Appropriate and sufficient experience to be appointable as an MPE for the group’s work
- Appropriate and sufficient experience to be appointable as an operator under IR(ME)R
- Active evidence of pursuing professional advancement (CPD)
- Experience of supervising other staff and trainees
- Experience of training a wide range of professionals in radiation safety
Desirable
- Appropriate and sufficient experience to be appointable as an RPA for the group’s work
- Experience of setting up and supervising research projects
Skills and aptitudes
Essential
- Advanced specialist knowledge and skills in diagnostic radiology physics and the techniques employed to measure the performance and radiological safety of state of the art x-ray imaging equipment
- Advanced specialist knowledge and skills in practical radiation safety, relevant legislation and standards
- Specialised knowledge of wider clinical issues and their implications in diagnostic imaging
- High level of understanding of patient and staff risks associated with ionising radiation
- Understanding of incident reporting pathways in the context of diagnostic imaging
- Ability to design and implement clinical and service audits.
- Ability to identify relevant areas for R&D focus
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including report writing and presentations
- Ability to communicate with staff at all levels within the organisation and external agencies and provide highly specialist advice
- Ability to explain complicated concepts of diagnostic imaging and radiation risks to lay persons
- Ability to communicate complex information at postgraduate level to other professional groups
- Ability to present scientific papers at national and international conferences
- Advanced analytical, reasoning and problem solving skills
- Advanced scientific skills including application of scientific method and interpretation of data
- Advanced report writing skills
- Ability to deliver training on complex subjects
- Ability to give radiation safety advice to patients in differing circumstances
- IT literate and competent in the use of Excel, Word and Powerpoint
- Ability to use image analysis software
- Ability to operate highly complex equipment with a high degree of accuracy
- Highly developed skills to manipulate complex diagnostic tools
- Ability to undertake manual lifting – for example setting up a technical test
Desirable
- Ability to use patient dose management systems
Royal Free World Class Values
Essential
- Demonstrable ability to meet the Trust Values
Personal qualities and attributes
Essential
- Ability to be flexible and adaptive and to show initiative
- Ability to work effectively within a team
- Ability to work unsupervised
- Ability to undertake and promote innovative work
- Ability to concentrate frequently when subjected to unpredictable work patterns
- Ability to concentrate for prolonged periods
- Ability to deal with distressing circumstances
- Self motivated, organised and able to work to deadlines
Education & professional qualifications
Essential
- Honours First Degree in Physics or equivalent, or containing a major physics component
- Postgraduate degree or equivalent in medical or radiation physics
- Successful completion of the MSC Scientist Training Programme in either Radiation Safety or Imaging with Ionising Radiation, or equivalent
- HCPC registered as a Clinical Scientist
- Certificate of competence to act as a Medical Physics Expert
Desirable
- Certificate of competence to act as a Radiation Protection Adviser
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Band 8b Principal Physicist, Radiological Physics and Radiation Safety with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Health science services role. The advertised salary is £75,328 - £86,114 per annum inclusive of HCAS. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 14 Jul 2026.
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