Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.
With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, w e’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.
As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
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 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.
Main duties of the job
As the successful candidate you will contribute to the whole range of our clinical service but will play a major role in leading the scientific computing and scripting service within Radiotherapy physics. 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. Significant software development expertise, together with proven experience of contributing to a robust software development lifecycle and maintaining a current understanding of relevant legislation, standards, and best practice, is essential.
Working for our organisation
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.
With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:
- Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
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. Our current equipment fleet includes 10 Varian TrueBeams, 3 Siemens CT scanners, a dedicated MR scanner, Flexitron HDR brachytherapy unit and a superficial unit. We have an additional Varian TrueBeam being installed in January 2027. Our range of advanced treatment methods includes SRS, SABR, VMAT, IMRT, TBI, TSEI and SGRT. We have recently introduced HyperSight imaging on our newest linacs and are developing our on-line adaptive radiotherapy processes across a range of treatments, with the computing team playing a leading role.
As a national leader in automation, the NCCC radiotherapy computing group develops and maintains over 30 clinical scripts within the treatment planning system, RayStation, which are run clinically over 3000 times a month. The group supports Python applications inside and outside the TPS, along with a small number of web applications. With the recent start of a CSC STP trainee based in the team, we have ambitions to develop and expand the role of the team.
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.
- You will have a significant role in managing the radiotherapy physics scientific computing team to ensure a high quality delivery of the computing service, including the development of the software lifecycle, management of all in‑house software change requests and the skill development of the team.
- You will be responsible for ensuring adherence to legislation and best‑practice including items such as the Medical Device Regulations, the in‑house exemption, standards for lifecycles and risk management and DCB0129/0160.
- You will work closely with the senior physics team to ensure that the computing service meetings the needs of the radiotherapy service and that sufficient resources are allocated.
- You will take a lead in negotiating and collaborating with Trust IT, Information Governance and Clinical Safety teams in order to be able to provide a high standard computing service.
- You will take a leading role in the supervision of a CSC trainee who will be based within the team.
- You will contribute to a wide range of radiotherapy physics clinical and scientific services, including planning, imaging, brachytherapy, radiobiology and radiation protection.
- 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 teams at both the Carlisle and Newcastle sites and will occasionally spend time at both sites.
- 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 and development activities for healthcare advancement across a range of specialist areas and lead major project involving multiple team members from a range of disciplines.
- 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.
If you do not have recognition as a Medical Physics Expert, we may consider your application if your submission is imminent. In this case you could be appointed at a lower grade/band until MPE recognition is achieved. To take advantage of this option, you must contact Michael Trainer in advance to discuss.
Person specification
Education
- A First- or Second-Class Honours Degree in physics or equivalent
- A post-graduate degree at master’s or PhD level, or equivalent level of specialist knowledge
- Registered Clinical Scientist
- Recognised by the Secretary of State as a Medical Physics Expert.
- Corporate membership of a professional body
Knowledge and Experience
- 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 projectsIn‑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.
Skills and Abilities
- Ability to interpret data, analyse problems and evaluate solutions
- Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills.
- Training, teaching & mentoring 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.
- Evidence of the ability to lead and co‑ordinate the workload of small teams.
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Smart appearance, suitable for work in clinical areas
- Good overall disposition, maturity, professional, reliable and trustworthy
- A demonstrable commitment to life‑long learning and CPD
- Sensitivity and consideration to other members of the team.
- Positive attitude towards other staff disciplines.
- Comfortable with patient care.
- Potential to be a team leader and motivate other staff members.
Core Behaviours
- Alignment to Trust Values and Core Behaviours
- Take personal responsibility to: engage with the Trust’s Climate Emergency Strategy and Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (SHINE) initiatives. Assist in embedding our sustainability values into everyday practice; and help ensure such practice is applied consistently by you and your colleagues
Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third-Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.
Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form
All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.
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.
Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e‑mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has unsuccessful.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Name Michael Trainer Job title Head of Radiotherapy Physics Email address michael.trainer1@nhs.net Telephone number 0191 2448729 Additional information
Please contact Michael to discuss the job and arrange a visit.
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