Senior Radiotherapy Radiographer in Redhill

The post holder will maintain the highest professional and technical standards of radiotherapy. The post holder will need to maintain core clinical skills, including statutory skills, Trust mandatory skills for clinical staff, and all radiotherapy-specific skills required to perform the role of a Senior Practitioner. The clinical skills framework for the radiotherapy department will include the full range of skills expected of the post holder and will be updated periodically.

The post holder will be required to participate in the induction, supervision, and teaching of junior staff and students within the treatment environment, enabling them to achieve the required level of clinical competence. The post holder will deputise for other Radiographers as required, including at internal and external meetings. A flexible approach to work is essential to meet the service needs of the department, and hours of work may vary with occasional weekend and public holiday working on a planned and on-call basis. Post holders may be rotared to work at either the Royal Surrey County Hospital or East Surrey Hospital sites and may be asked to travel between the sites at short notice to cover sickness.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• To verbally give an explanation of the treatment procedure to the patient and carer, answering any questions they may have.
• To provide reassurance during the procedure and advise them as to their care and management during a course of radiotherapy.
• To make a professional assessment during the initial patient interview regarding their requirements for further support in relation to their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and refer to other professionals as appropriate.
• To communicate efficiently and effectively with both internal and external professionals in the provision of information related to patient care.
• To negotiate, liaise with, and advise other sections of the department regarding the patient pathway to ensure that the department offers a coherent seamless service.
• To attend multi-disciplinary and operational radiotherapy treatment meetings to receive and impart both clinical and operational knowledge and report back to the treatment unit team when relevant.
• To communicate any operational issues, i.e., machine breakdown, to the Operational Manager for appropriate managerial decisions.
• To clearly communicate with the technical services department and medical physics staff relevant technical data relating to the treatment units and their operation that may affect safety, i.e., Radiation safety.
• As senior in charge of a given treatment unit, you are responsible for reporting actual or suspected treatment errors to the Operational Manager, Radiation Protection Supervisor, Medical Physics Expert, and Clinical Oncologist for further investigation in respect of the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposures) Regulations 2000.
• To achieve personal competence in simple and complex treatment techniques associated with the treatment unit to which you are rotared.
• To assist the Radiographer in Charge in the technical training of students and trainee assistant practitioners in the safe and accurate manipulation of the treatment unit equipment and accessories.
• To assist the Radiographer in Charge in the clinical and theoretical training of students and trainee assistant practitioners in simple treatment techniques within the scope of your competence.
• To participate in the student assessment, discussion, and meetings relevant to the ongoing training of students within the department.
• To undertake obligatory training associated with new equipment that may be away from your normal place of work.
• To be technically competent to safely and accurately manipulate the treatment unit and accessories to which you are rotared.
• To be responsible for, or in conjunction with the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer in charge, the routine quality assurance checks on the treatment unit every morning, reporting any faults or unsafe equipment.
• To accurately input and check clinical data into the department network database and hospital patient administration system.
• To report any unsafe equipment/conditions to the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer in charge of the treatment unit to prevent hazards to patients, staff, and visitors.
• To ensure that the treatment room is tidy, clean, and fully stocked with all necessary equipment and consumables and stationary.
• To be responsible for, in conjunction with the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer, the daily efficient time management of the treatment unit and patient workload.
• To be responsible for the coordination of the scheduling and organisation of an individual patient treatment appointment or schedule of a course of appointments in conjunction with the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer.
• To organise and delegate tasks and duties required to be performed by the treatment team (4-5 staff) on a daily basis to maintain an effective patient-focused service in association with the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer, or to deputise for the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer in their absence.
• To maintain and monitor the professional standards of practice to ensure that the staff are performing their duties in a safe and competent manner.
• To appropriately report any staff management issues to your line manager.
• To directly supervise the clinical activities of junior radiographers, assistant practitioners, trainee assistant practitioners, and student staff within the treatment unit environment.
• To adopt flexible work practices in the event of emergencies or machine failures, assisting in allocating and rescheduling patient appointments according to department and professional guidelines.
• To take responsibility for the accurate delivery of simple and complex treatment by interpretation of treatment data.
• To take responsibility for the accuracy of given information to enable precise treatment delivery from the first day of a patient's treatment and annotate as appropriate on the treatment card that the senior setup check has been performed.
• To make a professional judgement by applying a critical and analytical approach to a treatment situation if deviations from treatment protocol occur.
• To evaluate the options for correction and take the appropriate actions in conjunction with the Radiographer in Charge.
• To make an autonomous professional clinical assessment as to the fitness of the patient to proceed with the proposed treatment on a daily basis, proceeding to treatment if considered fit to do so.
• To communicate any concerns or findings regarding the patient's fitness for treatment to the Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer in charge or Clinical Oncologists for further management.
• To understand and manage the side effects of radiotherapy treatment to assist and support the patient during their course of treatment.
• To assist the patient in achieving the required treatment position and make a reasonable assessment of their physical and mental ability to cooperate with the intended procedure.
• To assess the patient concerning the Trust's manual handling protocols and complete the manual handling risk assessment as appropriate.
• To record and report accurately any machine faults into the machine log book for assessment by the technical team.
• To participate in the research, development, and audit of new treatment techniques adopting an analytical and critical approach.
• To keep up to date with best practice in radiotherapy treatment delivery locally and nationally and contribute to the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice.
• To understand and treat patients within the scope and practice of the Radiotherapy Trial portfolio, guided by approved procedures, policies, work instructions, standard operating procedures (SOPs), good practice, established precedents, and understanding what results or standards are to be achieved.

You will be managed by a more Team Leader Radiotherapy Radiographer but will not expect to be directly supervised.

Special Responsibilities:

• To ensure safe practice and abide by the Health Professions Council Standards (including the Standards of conduct, performance and ethics, of proficiency, of education and training, and of continuing professional development) applicable to Radiographers.
• As a registered radiographer, you are personally accountable for your practice. In caring for patients and clients, you must:
• Respect the patient or client as an individual
• Obtain consent before you give any treatment or care
• Protect confidential information
• Co-operate with others in the team
• Maintain your professional knowledge and competence
• Be trustworthy
• Act to identify and minimise risk to patients and clients

These are the shared values of all the United Kingdom health care regulatory bodies.