Head of Radiotherapy Physics (Consultant Clinical Scientist)

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to lead the excellent Radiotherapy Physics team at the Royal Surrey Cancer Centre, located within the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford and East Surrey Hospital, Redhill.

The Cancer Centre is focused on providing excellent patient pathways and patient-centered care.  We strive to continuously evolve to reflect the technical advances within Radiotherapy, and work closely as a multi-professional team to achieve this.  We have a Varian ETHOS on the Guildford site, delivering daily online adaptive radiotherapy for bladder and cervical cancers, as well as four Varian Truebeams, one of which will be replaced later this year with a Varian Halcyon.  The satellite centre in Redhill has a newly-installed Halcyon and ETHOS; both are equipped with Align-RT surface-guidance and Hypersight advanced imaging, which are also to be installed on the ring-based pair at Guildford.  External beam treatment planning is carried out using the Varian Eclipse system, and includes use of automated planning and auto segmentation.  All systems work within a cloud-based Aria environment.  We have 3 CT scanners across the two sites and use MR imaging in treatment planning, with further development of PET/CT underway.  The Guildford site additionally has an orthovoltage unit, a Papillon unit for contact radiotherapy and a comprehensive, highly-renowned brachytherapy service including both HDR and LDR treatments.

Main duties of the job

To manage and develop all aspects of the Radiotherapy Physics Section within the Department of Medical Physics

The Radiotherapy Physics Section of the Department of Medical Physics provides a comprehensive physics service to the Radiotherapy Department of the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The Radiotherapy Physics Section provides a wide range of specialist services including radiotherapy treatment planning, radiation dosimetry, equipment maintenance and quality assurance, and brachytherapy. They also lead and/or support clinical development and research as well as the education of staff and students.

The postholder:

• Manages the provision of clinical scientific and technical services to the radiotherapy department ensuring the highest possible level of accuracy and safety of radiotherapy cancer treatment is achieved.
• Provides the scientific lead in the development, provision, and administration of the radiotherapy physics service.
• Is responsible for providing expert advice to Medical Physics, Radiotherapy, and the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in order to comply with regulatory and statutory requirements relevant to Radiotherapy.
• Is responsible for meeting the teaching and training commitment of the section and has responsibility for its organisation and delivery.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Based at Guildford, occasional attendance at the satellite centre in East Surrey Hospital, Redhill will be required on occasion. The postholder will work flexibly to accommodate clinical need within the hours of 08:00 to 20:00. Bank holiday working or weekend working will be required on occasion.

The successful candidate will manage all aspects of the Radiotherapy Physics service to provide a high quality specialist service that ensures the accuracy and safety of radiotherapy/brachytherapy delivery, including: radiotherapy treatment planning; radiation dosimetry; equipment maintenance and quality assurance; and brachytherapy. They also lead and/or support clinical development and research as well as the education of staff and students.

The post is based in our main site in Guildford, which gives easy access to the beautiful North & South Downs Way, is an hour from the coast and has great transport links to the surrounding counties of Berkshire, Hampshire and Sussex.   The town offers cultural diversity, is home to the University of Surrey and it is great place to reside and explore.  Attendance at our satellite centre in Redhill will be required on occasion.

The department has strong links with the National Physical Laboratory and University of Surrey, and participates in a number of external consortia; the postholder will be encouraged to further develop external links. Staff wellbeing is important to us and as such we support flexible working patterns (eg 9-day fortnight), as well as offering the opportunity to work from home for part of your time.

Should you require more information or have any questions regarding this role please contact Liz Adams, Head of Medical Physics ([email protected]).