Senior Therapeutic Radiographer

Here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care for our local population. We are ranked as the third in the country for research, embedding education and training across the organisation. Our main hub is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the south coast employing over 8,700 staff.

Our patients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our hospital stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for getting it right for patients, colleagues, and our community, you will find a home at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

We are looking for an experienced,  motivated individual who is ready to take the next step in their career as a senior radiographer and have the opportunity to work in Pre-treatment, Treatment, DXR and Brachytherapy.

Portsmouth Radiotherapy department covers a wide catchment area, treating patients form Portsmouth, Southampton, West Sussex, and the Isle of Wight. As well as the daily routine of scanning, planning and treating patients, we also offer an out of hours service at the weekends. 

We have four TrueBeam 3.0 linear accelerators which include the advanced IGRT imaging such as online 4D CBCT, iCBCT and triggered imaging. We have 6DOF couches in use for Head and neck , upper GI and Lung SABR patients, alongside abdomen compression immobilisation. We have a wide-bore Siemens GOSIM CT scanner which was installed in January 2022. We also run Brachytherapy, orthovoltage and on-treatment review services.  We link all of our department together using ARIA V15.6. and are a paperless department. 

We have recently increased our SABR offering for oligometastases and prostate cancer via the PACE Nodes trial. In dosimetry, we have recently moved to Raystation planning system and routinely use AI auto-contouring software to make planning more efficient. Future projects include the installing of SGRT to move towards tattoo-less set ups ad increasing the number of radiotherapy trials we participate in. 

The team at PHU are committed to your development, sending representation to all the major conferences and supporting academic study in order to progress in your career. We have well established monthly clinical supervision at all levels and more recently have created a radiographer staff committee. The committee has helped drive the implementation of flexible working across the whole department where we now offer 7.5 hr or 9.5 hr shifts over 2/3/4/5 days per week. Similarly, the teams have eliminated the Covid backlog and are routinely achieving the 31 day cancer standard for or patients. 

We have 3 trained consultant radiographers in Breast/urology/palliative and are actively developing new ACP opportunities. we have several apprentice radiographer undergraduate and postgraduate roles in post and have recently invested in enhanced practice roles supporting progression from graduate all the way to consultant radiographer or lead radiographer. 

You will find a motivated, enthusiastic and forward thinking department, who won the Society of Radiographers Regional South East Team of the year 2023.

For more detailed information and pictures of our department , please see the "PHU Radiotherapy Department Brochure": Team brochure

Job Summary

• Undertake radiotherapy treatment and planning using ionising radiation to treat patients with cancer or benign disease, with both curative and palliative intent.
• Carry out radiotherapy procedures using a variety of specialised high energy radiation equipment , operating in conjunction with radiotherapy IT system and various imaging systems.
• Provide supervision and support to junior staff and students in training.
• Make confident decision making as the most senior radiographer in the absence of the team leader.
• To participate in the departmental shift and on call system between hours of 07:00-20:00, 7 days a week.
• Be accountable for own professional actions and limitations within own scope of practice.
• Abide by HCPC code of conduct and maintain HCPC registration.

To discuss this post or other opportunities please contact [email protected]

For more information, please refer to the Job Description.

• BSc Therapeutic Radiography or DCR(T) or equivalent
• HCPC registration to practice as a Therapeutic Radiographer
• Post-graduate education (or be willing to take part in Level 7 education to become Senior Enhanced Practitioner if opportunity arises)

Experience

• Appropriate level of post qualification experience having worked in various areas of the department   using a range of modern equipment.
• Experience of a range of radiotherapy treatment techniques
• Previous experience of working within the NHS

Skills and Knowledge

• Effective at working independently and within a team
• Ability to deal with emotive and confrontational situations using conflict resolution skills
• Ability to deal with and respond to interruptions in the working environment
• Strong personal resilience and ability to act appropriately in stressful and/or emotive situations
• Demonstrable competency in the use of all aspects of complex radiotherapy treatment and planning equipment
• Ability to successfully problem-solve and trouble-shoot treatment and planning related patient setup issues
• Ability to understand own limitations and when to ask for help
• Demonstrable skills in teaching and supervising student radiographers
• Understand the benefits of and how to work within an ISO9001:2015 quality system
• Awareness of national cancer agenda and how it relates to own practice
• Current knowledge of developments in radiotherapy practice
• Evidence of CPD

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.