World Radiography Day – Sunday 8th November
Posted 6th November 2020
125 years ago on 8th November 1895 – x-radiation (or x-rays) were discovered by the German mechanical engineer and physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. Since 2012, radiographers across the globe have honoured Roentgen’s discovery by celebrating World Radiography Day on the 8th November every year.
Here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre we have around 170 radiographers working across our specialist cancer hospitals: 40 Diagnostic Radiographers (who take images inside the body to help diagnose and treat cancer) and 130 Therapeutic Radiographers (who treat patients having radiotherapy).
One of our 130 Therapeutic Radiographers that work at the Trust is Jane Hearty, a Treatment Expert Practitioner, who has been with us for more than 25 years. We caught up with Jane ahead of World Radiography Day to find out all about her experience of being a Therapeutic Radiographer…
Q. What does the role of a Therapeutic Radiographer entail?
A. Therapeutic Radiographers work within a multidisciplinary team involving doctors, physicists and dosimetrists to design individual patient plans for courses of radiotherapy treatment. Both the planning of a course of radiotherapy and the treatment itself requires the use of complex and advanced technology and radiographers are trained to gain skills in all these aspects.
A Therapeutic Radiographer may work in the pre-treatment section where treatment plans are created. This may involve scanning the patient and/or the creation of a treatment plan unique to each patient. When creating the treatment plan, the radiographer has to ensure that the radiation is targeted accurately at the site of disease, whilst minimising any radiation dose to healthy body tissue and avoiding critical structures.
A Therapeutic Radiographer working in the treatment section will be assigned to one of the radiotherapy treatment machines – known as linear accelerators (linacs) – where they will usually work within a team of four. Two Therapeutic Radiographers will work together using information in a patient’s individual plan to accurately align the patient in the treatment room ready for the delivery of radiotherapy treatment. The patient will be imaged prior to the delivery of the radiotherapy treatment to ensure the accuracy of the alignment and this image will be compared with the scans acquired at the planning stage. Once positioning has been confirmed, the radiographers can then deliver the radiotherapy.
There are also other smaller sections within the radiotherapy department delivering radiotherapy treatments, such as brachytherapy (internal radiotherapy) and orthovoltage (superficial x-Ray radiotherapy).
Q. What made you want to become a Therapeutic Radiographer?
A. I always wanted to work within a caring setting so I explored Allied Health Professions (AHPs) when studying for my A-Levels. I think it was the combination of the variety of knowledge and technical skills a Therapeutic Radiographer has to use alongside the desire to treat and care which really drew me to the role.
A Therapeutic Radiographer is required to have a high level of technical expertise and accuracy to plan or deliver radiotherapy treatments, whilst also being able to offer emotional support to patients. As we usually see our patients over a set period of time, mostly on a daily basis, we really get to know our patients and build up a nice rapport with them.
Q. How did you get into the industry?
A. I studied BSc Radiotherapy at the University of Hertfordshire, which involved both lecture-based earning within the university and clinical placements at Mount Vernon and Hammersmith hospitals.
Q. How has your role diversified since you qualified?
A. After qualifying as a Therapeutic Radiographer, I was mainly based in the treatment section of the radiotherapy department, working in a team of four to deliver radiotherapy to over 40 patients every day.
As the radiotherapy equipment began to rapidly evolve and become more sophisticated, I took up an education and training role to teach qualified radiographers (and sometimes students) how to use new equipment and techniques. This led me to complete a master’s degree in Clinical Education at Edge Hill University.
Whilst I still oversee an education team, I am now a Treatment Expert Practitioner which involves day-to-day staff management across the treatment service, provision of expert technical advice in treatments, implementing new practice and policies, and service development.
Q. What do you enjoy most about being a Therapeutic Radiographer at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre?
A. Each day is different with new challenges. There is always something new to learn and always new people to meet.
The Therapeutic Radiographer role is a package of both technical skills and caring making the job interesting and fulfilling.
Q. If you had to sum up your role as a Therapeutic Radiographer in three words, what would they be?
A. Rewarding. Evolving. Challenging.
