Team Leader Radiotherapy Pre-treatment Radiographer

Job overview

We are delighted to invite applications from enthusiastic, forward thinking Team Lead Therapeutic Radiographers for our Pre Treatment team who are passionate about high quality radiotherapy, service development and collaborative working. At the Royal Surrey Cancer Centre, you’ll be part of a supportive team culture helping you grow and reach your full potential in your Radiotherapy career.

Our centre is committed to excellent patient pathways and truly patient centred care. We continually evolve to embrace the latest radiotherapy innovations, offering treatment on two Varian ETHOS units and two Varian Halcyon with Hypersight and in bore SGRT to support greater accuracy and tattoo less radiotherapy. Patients also benefit from three TrueBeams.

We also operate three planning CT scanners and an outstanding Brachytherapy service providing HDR, LDR and Papillon kV treatment, along with an Xstrahl superficial unit.

Main duties of the job

The purpose of this role is to undertake radiotherapy interventions at a team leader level to the highest professional and technical standards, working with Medical, Radiographic, Physics and Administrative colleagues, within the Radiotherapy team. 2.1 JOB SUMMARY As a team leader pre-treatment radiotherapy radiographer working as part of the radiotherapy team, you will be under the supervision of the appropriate Operational Manager preparing radiotherapy using highly specialist equipment. You will regularly participate in all aspects of radiotherapy activities and your role will focus on the management of your area of expertise. As a key element of the role, the post holder will provide information, education, practical and emotional support to patients and carers during their radiotherapy episode. The Royal Surrey Cancer Centre Radiotherapy Department is based at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford and operates a satellite service from the East Surrey Hospital in Redhill. This post is based at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, but will include attendance at both sites.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post-holder will maintain the highest professional and technical standards of radiotherapy.

The post holder will be required to participate in the induction, supervision and teaching of staff within the clinical environment enabling them to achieve the required level of clinical competence. The post-holder will deputise for the Operational Manager as required including at internal and external meetings. The post holder will need to maintain core clinical skills. This will include statutory skills, trust mandatory skills for clinical staff and all radiotherapy specific skills required to perform their team leader role. The clinical skills framework for the radiotherapy department will include the full range of skills which are expected of the post holder and will be updated periodically.

A flexible approach to work is essential to meet the service needs of the department and hours of work may vary between 7am – 7pm with some weekend and public holiday working on a planned and on-call basis. Post holders may be rotated to work at either the Royal Surrey County Hospital or East Surrey Hospital site and may be asked to travel between the sites. If asked to work at the site which is not the post holder’s base, notice will be given in accordance with departmental procedures. Main Duties and Responsibilities: To help manage the day to day running of their designated work area. To help manage the patient flow and patient bookings. To deliver the preparation and planning of radiotherapy treatment as referred by the Clinical Oncology Consultants. To be aware of treatment waiting times and treatment outcome data and support the development of strategies, alongside clinical colleagues, that enables effective management. To help support business planning alongside Operational Managers in pursuit of best practice and service developments and requirements. To meet regularly with the other team leaders and the Operational Managers with regard to departmental management. Design and update protocols and ways of working. Responsible for working with others to ensure the smooth and appropriate implementation and integration of new ways of working. Liaise with the other team leaders and Operational Managers giving highly specialised advice as appropriate, troubleshooting where necessary and providing technical support when required including liaising outside the department. Provide continuity between pre-treatment, planning and treatment as appropriate. Act as a recognised technical/clinical resource for the wider multidisciplinary team giving highly specialised advice, as required, and act as a key link with those external to the Trust for the specialist area. To support the other team leaders and Operational Managers as required in all sections of the department. Attend/take an active part in relevant meetings and forums to promote integration of standards and development of relevant project areas. Create new and revise current protocols, liaising with appropriate personnel to ensure they are practicable and that necessary information is fully communicated to all relevant disciplines. Liaise with the relevant members of the management team who have responsibility for the strategic development of clinical practice as appropriate. Contribute, when required, to the procurement of new equipment/technology, including the preparation of business cases when appropriate. Identify training needs related to the delivery and development of their area of expertise and to formulate and deliver training packages for other practitioners. Ensure own clinical decisions (including non-standard/outside protocol) are underpinned and evaluated using theoretical knowledge and relevant practical experience. Responsible for ensuring quality assurance procedures are adhered to and instruct their team leadership. Responsible for implementing any corrective action relevant to their area of expertise as a result of incidents, following discussion with the Deputy Professional Head of Radiotherapy and the Operational Management team. To be responsible for maintaining the highest standards of clinical practice and patient care. Responsible for the checking/calculation of doses and prescriptions in accordance with the departmental procedures as appropriate. Responsible for ensuring all equipment is used appropriately and safely, including administrative and management systems, monitoring equipment performance and reporting faults. Ensure that the clinical decision making of junior staff is appropriate and supported by relevant theoretical knowledge/experience. To follow the policies which are determined by the departmental and hospital management teams; proposing changes to working practices or procedures for your own work area when relevant These will be set out in procedures, protocols and work instructions which will be updated periodically. You will not be required to lead developments, but will be expected to comment on policies, procedures or developments being managed by colleagues. Accurately document all clinical data concerning the patient into the record and verify system for use by other staff groups within the department as per department protocol.

• Utilise the department record and verify systems to confirm the daily treatment delivery electronically as per protocol.
• Provide/file written documentation of clinical information relating to the treatment of the patient in the patient hospital notes where appropriate.
• Participate in the daily run-up and QA of radiotherapy equipment.
• Report & record accurately any machine faults or assessment by the technical team.
• Participate in the research, development and audit of new radiotherapy techniques; adopting an analytical and critical approach.
• Keep up to date with best practice in radiotherapy locally and nationally and contribute to the implementation of evidence based clinical practice.
• Understand and scan / treat patients within the scope and practice of the Radiotherapy Trial portfolio. This will be guided by approved policies, work instructions, standard operating procedures (SOPs), good clinical practice (GCP), and established precedents. Support will be given by the Radiotherapy Research Team.
• Report any clinical errors at the earliest possible opportunity. To take or initiate any remedial action required, investigate the incident and work with the Operational Managers & Quality Manager to reduce any further risks.
• Take responsibility for own continuous professional development by being proactive in assessing training needs in conjunction with the appraisal process.
• Work with the Operations Managers and other team leaders managing the radiotherapy service across the department monitoring and recording staff sickness, annual leave, clinical supervision, probation, appraisals and staffing levels.
• Undertake appraisals identifying training needs and personal development needs in line with departmental objectives. Feeding back staff needs to the training needs assessment.
• Train radiographers in the use of new technical equipment and highly complex radiotherapy techniques.
• Participate in the recruitment of therapy radiographers and departmental support staff and to induct new staff and students to the department.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.