Job summary
- Main area
- 317 Radiotherapy Physics - FH
- Grade
- Band 7 to Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 317-2025-19-11-DR
- Employer
- The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Freeman Hospital
- Town
- 317 01 Freeman Hospital
- Salary
- £53,755 - £60,504 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 01/06/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 19/06/2025
Employer heading
Career Grade/ Lead Clinical Scientist
Band 7 to Band 8a
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 15,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.6 billion.
We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.
We’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country, supporting people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts each day, delivering high standards of healthcare.
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.
Job overview
The Radiotherapy Physics Group at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) is looking for an experienced registered radiotherapy Medical Physics Expert to join our team.
NCCC runs services at both the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle and Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle and provides a highly specialised clinical service for the treatment of cancer patients. The successful candidate will be based primarily at the Freeman Hospital but would be required to work occasionally in the Carlisle site.
- Interview Date: 19th June 2025
- 37 hours 30 minutes/week
- You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.
NO AGENCIES PLEASE
Main duties of the job
As the successful candidate you will contribute to the whole range of our service but play a major role in delivering reference dosimetry and equipment QC and bring skills and experience to improve the quality of the radiotherapy physics service across a range of sub-specialties. You will be able to demonstrate leadership skills, including leading on a major project and show that you can provide clinical, scientific and technical advice to a wide range of other professional groups including clinical, technical and managerial staff both within and outside of NCCC.
Working for our organisation
Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:
• Freeman Hospital
• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service
• Cramlington Manor Walks
These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.
We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.
Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.
For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The NCCC is one of the leading radiotherapy centres in the UK. We are the first to use MR-only planning for radiotherapy and are one of the few radiotherapy centres with a dedicated MR scanner. Our range of advanced treatment methods on our state of the art fleet of Varian units includes SRS, SABR, VMAT, IMRT, TBI, TSEI and SGRT. The department will be commissioning our first linac with HyperSight imaging later this year. We have a strong and developing brachytherapy service and our growing computing group is leading major automation projects.
NCCC is a reference site for advanced SRS practices with Brainlab Elements and we have an excellent culture of clinical trials involvement. We have a strong teaching pedigree linked with Newcastle University, delivering the national STP academic MSc course, oncologist FRCR teaching and local STP and Route-2 physicist training.
Band 8a
- You will have a significant role in managing aspects of the physics QC and dosimetry service to ensure high quality delivery radiotherapy.
- You will contribute to a wide range of radiotherapy physics clinical and scientific services, including planning, imaging, radiobiology and radiation protection.
- You will work closely with the radiographic & engineering teams to ensure that the equipment is suitable for the clinical needs.
- You will be required to report and explain scientific & technical issues to the senior physics, radiographic, medical and managerial team using language suited to each.
- You will work closely with the team at the Carlisle site and will on occasion spend time at the Carlisle site.
- You will provide scientific and technical leadership in your area of expertise.
- You will maintain and develop high standards of service provision throughout your area of responsibility.
- You will assist the service lead in developing and monitoring strategies, procedures and practices, to ensure that quality is maintained and information is stored and communicated appropriately.
- You will develop and deliver research activities for healthcare advancement across a range of specialist areas.
- You will line manage and mentor individuals and contribute to the management, development and training of other staff.
- You will be required to teach on our Clinical Scientist and FRCR academic training courses and train and coach on our STP teaching programme
Band 7
Salary: £46,148 - £52,809
- Performs a range of advanced healthcare science activities
- Provide highly specialist advice and training to staff within own area and other professionals.
- Actively involved in research and development projects.
- Supervises and trains less experienced staff and trainees.
Newcastle upon Tyne is an exciting place to live with easy access to city, coast and country. The nightlife is lively, there is plenty of sport, culture and a good transport network.
If you do not have recognition as an Medical Physics Expert, you could still be appointed and would initially be employed as a Band 7 Clinical Scientist. You would be expected to complete submission of your MPE portfolio within 18 months of commencing your employment before being transitioned to the Band 8a Clinical Lead Scientist post. To qualify for the lower appointment with later transition, you must bring evidence of portfolio progress to the interview.
Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Person specification
Band 8a
Essential criteria
- First- or Second-Class Honours Degree in physics
- Post-graduate degree at master’s or PhD level, or equivalent level of specialist knowledge
- Registered Clinical Scientist
- Medical Physics Expert
- Highly specialist up to date in-depth knowledge and understanding of radiotherapy physics, imaging, treatment planning and treatment delivery and verification.
- Highly specialist in-depth knowledge and understanding of current UK legislation and regulations pertinent to radiotherapy physics, including radiation protection of staff, patients and members of the public
- Advanced knowledge of dosimetry codes of practice and recommendations in equipment quality assurance
- Advanced knowledge of radiotherapy, enabling post-holder to advise on the appropriateness of techniques, and to collaborate with clinicians in their interpretation and reporting
- Evidence of knowledge of current scientific and technological developments in radiotherapy.
- Knowledge of Governance issues including ethical and regulatory considerations
- Sufficient experience to be appointed as an MPE for radiotherapy
- Experience of investigating incidents involving ionising radiations
- Experience of teaching and training at postgraduate level
- Experience of leading and completing clinical and scientific research and development projects
- Ability to interpret data, analyse problems and evaluate solutions
- Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills
- Training, teaching & mentoring skills
- Good IT skills
- Ability to liaise effectively with staff at all levels and across the range of clinical, scientific and administrative disciplines
- Ability to work on own initiative.
- Ability to give scientific and technical advice to colleagues, senior clinicians, and other professionals.
- Ability to carry out research and development working as part of a team.
- Ability to undertake complex calculation, data analysis and to issue reports on quantitative techniques.
- Good report writing and presentational skills, including the production of scientific papers, reports and conference presentations
Desirable criteria
- Corporate membership of a professional body
- In-depth knowledge of human anatomy and physiology relevant to radiotherapy
- Specialist knowledge one or more areas of radiotherapy physics
- Evidence of career progression demonstrating both breadth and depth of experience.
- Evidence of attendance at conferences or training courses intended to extend the breadth and depth of knowledge.
- Patient handling skills
- Evidence of the ability to lead and co-ordinate the workload of small teams.
Band 7
Essential criteria
- Significant and up to date knowledge of relevant areas of medical physics applied to radiotherapy physics, imaging, treatment planning and treatment
- Knowledge and understanding of current radiation legislation, knowledge of codes of practice and recommendations in quality assurance and radiation dosimetry
- Ability to work both independently and as a member of the team
- Good communication skills with all staff groups.
- Efficient time management.
- Good report writing and presentational skills
- Significant experience in Radiotherapy Physics for Treatment, Imaging, Dose Planning.
- A first or second class honours degree in physics. A postgraduate degree (MSc or PhD)
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of knowledge of clinical oncology
- knowledge of current scientific and technological developments
- Knowledge of Quality Systems.
- Teaching and training skills.
- Ability to communicate scientific advice to all staff groups
- Patient handling skills
- Evidence of career progression demonstrating both breadth and depth of experience.
- Evidence of completed research and development projects
- A state registered clinical scientist
- Corporate membership of a professional body
- Evidence of attendance at conferences or training courses intended to extend the breadth and depth of knowledge.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Michael Trainer
- Job title
- Head of Radiotherapy Physics
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0191 244 8729
- Additional information
Please contact Michael to discuss the job and arrange a visit.
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