Job summary
- Main area
- Nuclear Medicine
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8d
- Contract
- Fixed term: 36 months (backfill, covering for fellowship)
- Hours
- Part time - 15 hours per week
- Job ref
- 309-UCLH-6511
- Employer
- University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- UCLH
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £96,340 - £109,849 per annum inclusive of HCAS, pro-rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Joint Head of Nuclear Medicine Physics
NHS AfC: Band 8d
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Job overview
Clinical Scientist (Medical Physicist) in Nuclear Medicine
AfC Band 8D 0.4 WTE 3 years Fixed Term
This position is to backfill the current Consultant Clinical Scientist for two days a week (or equivalent). This backfill will last for three years to match the available funding.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will help lead and manage the work of an established team of nine clinical scientists who provide critical scientific and technical support to the work of this large department. We have a wide range and expanding portfolio of equipment which includes PET/MR, three PET/CT systems, and four SPECT/CT systems, together with DXA bone densitometry and a full range of supporting nuclear medicine instrumentation. A wide range of routine and innovative experimental inpatient and outpatient radionuclide therapy procedures are also performed, and we have a large central radiopharmacy with laboratory facilities on-site. In addition to scientific and technical support, the role has key responsibilities in governance, and radiation safety including patient safety where the role holder will be expected to as a Medical Physics Expert. There will also be an expectation that the post holder will participate in the very wide range of research and development activities of the department by contributing to the introduction of new procedures, research projects, and supporting the operation of our SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MR instrumentation. This post offers an excellent opportunity to work as a clinical scientist in nuclear medicine at a highly regarded centre that develops and practices cutting-edge techniques.
Working for our organisation
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is one of the most complex NHS trusts in the UK, serving a large and diverse population. We provide academically led acute and specialist services, to people from the local area, from throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. Our vision is to deliver top-quality patient care, excellent education, and world-class research.
We provide first-class acute and specialist services across eight sites:
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University College Hospital (incorporating the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing)
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National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
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Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals
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University College Hospital Grafton Way Building
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Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine
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University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre
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The Hospital for Tropical Diseases
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University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street
We are dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of many complex illnesses. UCLH specialises in women’s health and the treatment of cancer, infection, neurological, gastrointestinal and oral disease. It has world class support services including critical care, imaging, nuclear medicine and pathology.
We are committed to sustainability and have pledged to become a carbon net zero health service, embedding sustainable practice throughout UCLH. We have set an ambitious target of net zero for our direct emissions by 2031 and indirect emissions by 2040.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For the full Person Specification and more information regarding the main responsibilities of this role, please refer to the attached Job Description.
The Institute of Nuclear Medicine has an international reputation for excellence in academic and clinical nuclear medicine. We are located in the heart of the UCL/UCL Hospitals campus within University College Hospital, providing a comprehensive nuclear medicine service that now undertakes over 20,000 studies per year to patients referred from UCLH and hospitals throughout the UK. In addition to the extremely varied clinical workload, we have an extensive and internationally recognised internal research programme. We collaborate with both local and external researchers and are actively involved in the Trust’s NIHR BRC-funded programme for translational research and with its clinical trials portfolio. Our key strengths include operation of the UK’s first PET/MR system, the exploitation of PET and SPECT-based multimodality imaging, and access to a range of experimental PET and SPECT tracers. We are developing cutting-edge techniques for oncological, neurological, and cardiac imaging, and are centrally involved in a very rapidly expanding and developing radionuclide therapy programme.
University College Hospital is located in a very pleasant cosmopolitan area in the heart of London’s West End and one which has excellent local and long-distance transport connections. The department itself has a vibrant, friendly, and multi-disciplinary team and we benefit from London’s unrivalled range of social, cultural and sporting facilities. Hospital accommodation and key worker accommodation packages are available.
Come and be a part of the best NHS trust in England to work for, according to our staff*
* UCLH top trust to work at in England - In the most recent NHS staff survey UCLH had the highest percentage of staff who said they would recommend us as a place to work, out of all general acute or acute/community NHS trusts in England – for the third year in a row.
UCLH recognises the benefits of flexible working for staff – To find out more, visit: Flexible working.
To discover more about what makes UCLH a great place to work, visit: Why Choose UCLH?
Person specification
Knowledge, Training and Experience
Essential criteria
- Bachelor’s-level degree and higher (Master’s-level) degree in Physics or other relevant subject, or equivalent. Doctoral degree (PhD), or equivalent relevant knowledge and experience.
- Formal Medical Physics training, including substantial content of Nuclear Medicine, delivered through a recognised training scheme e.g. IPEM. UK State Registration as a Clinical Scientist (Medical Physicist) through the Health Care Professions Council.
- Chartered Membership or Fellowship of the IPEM (Institute of Physics & Engineering in Medicine), or exceptionally of another equivalent professional body e.g. IoP (Institute of Physics).
- A thorough knowledge of (and as a guide, at least ten to twelve year’s experience of) the principles and practice of nuclear medicine physics in a clinical context, or equivalent, to include a full understanding of : - The range of diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures; including current professional best practice guidelines and standards and important new clinical and methodological developments.
- - The operation of the full range of current nuclear medicine, SPECT, PET and hybrid imaging equipment using both CT and MR, and image processing workstations.
- - A working knowledge of CT, MR new developments, and of UK and EU medical devices regulation, risk management and safety standards.
- - The performance assessment, acceptance testing, commissioning, quality assurance and calibration of the above equipment; sufficient to ensure compliance with recognised quality systems and standards.
- - Management of capital projects requiring tendering, procurement, installation, commissioning, and acceptance testing of major items of nuclear medicine and PET equipment.
- - The principles and practice of internal radiation dosimetry, sufficient to perform estimates of the patient tumour and critical normal organ doses arising from nonstandard procedures.
- - Current methodologies for the processing and analysis of nuclear medicine, SPECT, PET and CT image data, including application-specific processing techniques and those for image fusion, registration and the correction of inherent artefacts (physiological motion, scatter, attenuation, partial volume). Statistical methods for analysis of clinical and scientific data derived from such systems
- - Windows/Linux/MacOs operating systems and PC applications software including MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, web browsers, mail tools – for regular, proficient use for scientific and management tasks.
- - Programming, e.g. one or more of - Visual Basic, C/C++, Python, scripting languages.
- - Basic knowledge of website development and relational databases, systems and networking including TCP/IP infrastructures
- - Working familiarity with functionality of current PACS and RIS systems. -
- Ability to manage a range of scientific and technical problems as typically arise in delivery of a clinical nuclear medicine service, investigating and resolving these under clinical, operational and safety pressures.
- Knowledge and experience as above, and especially with regard to radiation dosimetry, sufficient to act as a Medical Physics Expert (MPE) as defined by the Ionising Radiation Regulations (Medical Exposures) Regulations 2017; noting also the 2013 EU Basic Safety Standards.
- Highly specialist knowledge of and experience with the principles and practice of radiation safety applied to unsealed radioactive sources, the practice of clinical nuclear medicine and the control of occupational and medical exposures – and the interpretation of the regulatory framework governing these activities within the UK; at least equivalent to that of a UK accredited Radiation Protection Advisor in the field of Nuclear Medicine.
- Experience of, and a demonstrated commitment to, clinical research and development. The presentation of scientific findings at conferences and seminars, and their publication in peer-reviewed literature.
- Full knowledge and considerable relevant experience of the requirements and role of clinical governance and audit, quality standards, risk management frameworks, and NHS strategy.
- Ability to deliver highly specialised advice and guidance to senior clinicians and managers, and where this is often of a complex nature and requiring the need for sound professional and scientific judgement.
Desirable criteria
- Experience in other relevant areas of Medical Physics
- Good understanding of the physics of CT and its dosimetry
- A good understanding of, and working familiarity with techniques for : - Tracer kinetic modelling, - Monte Carlo modelling, - Reconstruction of tomographic data (SPET/PET)
- UK accreditation as a Radiation Protection Advisor in Nuclear Medicine
- Good track record of presentation and publication
Communication
Essential criteria
- Able to communicate clearly, effectively and with authority with colleagues across all disciplines and levels of responsibility; both verbally and in writing, offering and receiving guidance, opinions, and advice in a professional manner at all times and able to communicate with staff and patients under often stressful conditions.
- The ability to generate clear and concise reports, summarising the findings of investigations, audits, surveys or the critical assessment of processes and procedures.
Physical Skills (e.g. keyboard skills, hand-eye coordination)
Essential criteria
- Able to operate keyboard, mouse, and trackball. Able to operate clinical image workstations where the fine control of screen icons is required to manipulate image data precisely – e.g. through cursor-based drawing tools, slider bars, complex point-and-click operations.
- Able to distinguish subtle changes in the quality and features of clinical images.
- Able to dispense liquid radioactive materials safely and to prepare precise, small volume sealed sources from these into a range of forms, accurately and reproducibly.
Managerial
Essential criteria
- Able to manage, lead and train scientist and technologist staff.
- Strongly developed organisational and analytical skills.
- Able to think strategically, planning and implementing developments in clinical nuclear medicine and agreed changes to work practices
- Working familiarity with NHS financial systems and practices.
- Committed to participating fully in the delivery of a professional, high-quality clinical service and to the pursuit of research and development within the field of nuclear medicine, and complementary specialisations.
- Significant personal drive and direction, focus and resilience.
- The ability to work with considerable autonomy and a minimum of supervision and oversight.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of line management, formal management training and/or a relevant qualification in management; as relevant to the work of the NHS
- Experience of NHS financial management, training and/or a relevant qualification in financial management; relevant to the NHS
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Prof John Dickson
- Job title
- Head of Nuclear Medicine Physics
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
Informal enquiries are welcomed; to find out more please contact Prof John Dickson, Head of Nuclear Medicine Physics ([email protected]).
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