Band 8A Principal Radiotherapy Physicist
This post is an opportunity for a skilled, motivated Radiotherapy Physicist with a particular focus on the development and implementation of specialist technologies and techniques. In this role, you will lead and contribute to a variety of projects in line with departmental priorites in addition to routine clinical work in Radiotherapy Physics. You will be a HCPC registered Clinical Scientist and you will be expected to work towards timely submission of a RPA2000 MPE portfolio if not already certified.
Applicants must have wide-ranging skills across most areas of Radiotherapy Physics: treatment planning and treatment planning systems; equipment quality control and commissioning; dosimetry; imaging; quality assurance systems and IT systems. The post-holder will be allocated projects according to their skills and current departmental priorities, some of which may involve external R&D collaboration with the University of Oxford and other partners.
The OUH Radiotherapy Centre at the Churchill Hospital is a five linac, all-Varian (including Halcyon, TrueBeam) site with CT-sim, ARIA, Eclipse and HDR brachytherapy unit, plus a prostate seed brachytherapy service. Our existing satellite centre in Swindon operates a further two linacs and a CT-sim. A second satellite centre in Milton Keynes operating a single linac and CT-sim opened in 2025. Supporting systems include AI auto-contouring and RadCalc. We have a modern suite of treatment planning functionality including RapidPlan, MCO, HyperArc and Velocity, and we treat with a wide variety of techniques including SRS/SRT and SABR. We have a range of development work underway and on the horizon and also an active computing team working to develop software and scripts for automation and data analysis. We have close links with the CRUK/MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology and an expanding portfolio of clinical trials.
To undertake commissioning, quality control, radiation safety checks and calibration of any radiotherapy equipment used in the planning or treatment of patients, in accordance with quality assurance procedures.
Where appropriate to be responsible for the commissioning of radiotherapy equipment and other items of equipment as identified by the Head of Radiotherapy Physics. Commissioning will include implementation of (inter)national protocols and decisions on safety critical issues.
To be responsible for carrying out Definitive Calibration of treatment machines and detectors, and to supervise staff in this work activity.
To be responsible for returning radiotherapy treatment machines into clinical use after repair, liasing with senior equipment engineers and senior radiographic staff.
To perform treatment planning and to independently check plans.
To resolve problems when checking complex radiotherapy treatment plans.
To be responsible for the scientific accuracy of radiation treatment calculations and checks, treatment verification, patient dosimetry and other measurements carried out on behalf of Oncology.
To provide scientific advice to medical staff and other healthcare professionals
To take a leading role in developing services within Radiotherapy Physics. To supervise healthcare scientists in this area, delegating staff to carry out tasks as necessary.
To use specialised computer software and hardware, adapt computer systems and develop software solutions to meet the needs of Radiotherapy Physics and Radiotherapy.
