Senior Physicist in Nuclear Medicine

Overview

The opportunity has arisen within the Nuclear Medicine department for a physicist to join our team of 5 physicists to provide scientific support to the PET-CT. The department is situated within a new state of the art hospital and supports 2 SPECT-CT systems, a CZT solid state SPECT-CT system, Starguide and a 5 ring digital GE MI TOF PET-CT. The group also manages 4 outside hospitals providing a full range of physics support. Members of the group play an active role in the STP training scheme.

The PET-CT undertakes research including the effect of respiratory gating on tumour detection and imaging in low count situations e.g. Y90 SIRT. A software environment will be available for system development and research. The department is a leading proponent of targeted radionuclide therapy including Y90 SIRT, Lu177 dotatate, Lu-177 PSMA, Alpha particle and I131 therapies in conjunction with a strong research program in personalised dosimetry.

You should have completed or about to complete the STP training programme and have achieved state registration. If the successful candidate is still in training the post may be appointed at a lower grade. Liverpool is one of Europe's liveliest and exciting cities renowned for its culture and character originating from its historical world links.

For informal discussions about this post please contact Melvyn Carroll, Head of Physics, Tel , email

Main duties of the job

1. To assist the Chief Physicist and deputies in the provision of a nuclear medicine physics service to the Trust's Nuclear Medicine Department.
2. On joining the HCPC State Register, to become one of the group of physicists carrying out Quality Control and other work at peripheral hospitals undertaking radionuclide imaging studies.

About us

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients.

UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.

For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West.

Aintree University Hospital is the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside and hosts a number of regional services including an award-winning stroke facility. Broadgreen Hospital is home to elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation. Liverpool Women's Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK's largest single site maternity hospital each year. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.

For roles at Liverpool Women's, visit their careers page.

Job responsibilities

Specific Duties

1. Specific duties at the Trust encompass: (i) image interpretation and analysis (ii) quality assurance of imaging and other detectors (iii) dispensing radioactive I-131 for treatment (iv) collating and assisting with the disposal of radioactive waste (v) collaboration with Radiopharmacy and Radiation Protection colleagues (vi) measurements associated with dual X-ray bone mineral densitometry.
2. Specific duties at the peripheral hospitals encompass: (i) image interpretation and analysis (ii) quality assurance of imaging and other detectors (iii) collaboration with Radiopharmacy and Radiation Protection colleagues.

The peripheral hospitals involved are Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Fazakerley Hospital, Whiston Hospital, Warrington Hospital.

1. To undertake teaching commitments on an occasional basis if invited by the Chief Physicist. This includes participating in teaching and other commitments to the Physicists undertaking the MSc in Medical Imaging at the University of Liverpool as part of the Health Care Science Training (STP) through the Modernising Scientific Careers programme.
2. To undertake research work as required and to publish in scientific journals and attend (and, if necessary, present results at) meetings and conferences.
3. Radiation Protection: provides day-to-day support to radiation protection requirements for patients, staff and the public within the policies and procedures of the Trust. This includes liaising with ward and other staff regarding discharge of patients treated with large amounts of radioactive materials and with monitoring for radioactive contamination; advising patients on restrictions required within the Hospital, and subsequently at home; preparing documentation such as local rules to ensure compliance with legislation concerning use of radioactive materials, including EPR2016, IRR2017 and IRMER2017; participating in the Trust's NAIR scheme and any other reasonable emergency planning arrangements.
4. The post-holder will be actively encouraged to attain RWA and RPA certification.
5. The post holder will be encouraged to develop or further their diagnostic radiology knowledge and will liaise with the Radiology department.
6. Other activities consistent with maintaining standards and appropriate to the grade.
7. Plans own workload, plans teaching workload for trainees as necessary.

Person Specification Qualifications

• Degree in a relevant subject
• Relevant MSc or higher degree
• State Registration as a Clinical Scientist within a few months of appointment. To have obtained or be able to apply for Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC)
• Nuclear medicine must have been one of the post holder's Major Subject Areas in Basic Training
• Corporate Membership of Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine

Experience

• Knowledge of Nuclear Medicine equipment quality control performance tests. Practical handling of unsealed radioactive sources. Understanding of patient and staff risks arising from radiation exposure and of image quality requirements for a range of diagnostic imaging procedures.
• Specialist knowledge in radiation and imaging physics as applied in Medicine. Specialist knowledge of the techniques employed to measure the performance of a range of Nuclear Medicine Imaging and non-Imaging equipment. Knowledge of radiation protection legislation in health care and biomedical research. Awareness of national standards relevant to the specialist area.
• Knowledge of Radiology physics and associated quality assurance performance tests

Other

• Willing to take part in formal lecturing and informal teaching sessions with physicists, radiographers, medical and nursing staff and others
• Ability to communicate complex information to different groups of staff at different levels
• Ability to communicate information to patients
• Able to understand and operate a range of Nuclear Medicine equipment

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust