Assistant Physicist - Radiotherapy PhysicsNHS AfC: Band 5
Main area Radiotherapy Physics Grade NHS AfC: Band 5 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (End date: End of November) Hours Part time - 30 hours per week (shifts from 7am til 9pm occasional weekend working may be requested) Job ref 361-7385804
Site Mount Vernon Cancer Centre Town Northwood Salary £31,049 - £37,796 per annum-pro rata, plus 15% High Cost Area Supplement Salary period Yearly Closing 28/10/2025 23:59 Interview date 07/11/2025
Here at East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust,
Our mission is:
Providing high-quality, compassionate care for our communities
Our vision to 2030 is:
To be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service
Job overview
We are recruiting for an Assistant Physicist who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.
Radiotherapy physics is part of a multi-disciplinary team in a large Cancer Centre.
The Section consists of Clinical Scientists, practitioners in radiotherapy physics, radiographers, linac and computer engineers.
The centre has 7 Varian linear accelerators, and a brachytherapy suite. Patient treatments are planned on one of our dedicated wide bore CT scanners with access to, MR and CT-PET imaging within the Paul Strickland Scanner centre.
As the post is for 1 year, the successful applicant will be trained to do a limited number of the tasks in the job description, the time spent in a clinical department will give invaluable experience to anyone interested in a future career in radiotherapy physics.
When applying for this position, please make sure to answer the questions below within your supporting statement:
- How do you demonstrate that you work to the Trust Values: include examples from outside of your work/study experience
- Please explain why you want to work in radiotherapy physic
At the heart of everything we do are our core values: Include , Respect , and Improve . We encourage you to embrace these values throughout the recruitment process and in your role with us.
Main duties of the job
The Assistant Physicist will assist with patient specific measurements and calculations.
The post holder will assist with quality assurance measurements on linear accelerators.
To assist with planning of patient treatments on the computerised treatment planning system
To assist in theatre for brachytherapy procedures
To perform some data analysis and processing
Personal initiative, a keen sense of responsibility, manual dexterity and a high degree of accuracy are expected in all duties. Although experience of working with radiation is desirable, it is not a requirement and appropriate training will be provided
Working for our organisation
At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.
We run the following hospitals:
- The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
- New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
- Hertford County, Hertford
We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.
We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against se
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role.
In addition, you will receive a High-Cost Area Supplement of 15% of your basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £4,552 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum pro rata.
ENHT is seeking to maintain and expand the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre staff as we move to an exciting new future.
We welcome applications from those who would relish the opportunity to be part of new and developing cancer service, building on the excellent reputation, research and patient experience the Cancer Centre already delivers.
Person specificationQualifications / Training
- BSc or equivalent in a Science or Engineering Discipline, involving data measurement and analysis.
- Maths and Physics A level or equivalent
- Physics degree or physics courses within degree
Previous Experience
- Project work involving extensive measurement and analysis of data
- Ability to perform routine measurements on treatment machines with guidance where required
- Ability to perform individual patient QA for IMRT
- Working in a team environment (can be as a member of a student team at university level)
- Treatment planning for simple sites (eg breast and prostate)
Skills
- Ability to communicate across professions
- Self-organised – able to work in a very busy environment
- Diligence and attention to detail commensurate with clinical nature of systems to be supported
- Numerate
- Computer literate – able to use Excel and Word
- Good spatial awareness skills
Knowledge
- Knowledge of radiation theory and its application to radiotherapy
Other Requirements
- Understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion
- Role model our Trust values every day
- Happy to work within a small team in a large NHS department
Our values
We want our staff to believe in, demonstrate and live our values in everything we do.
Include
We value the diversity and experience of our community colleagues and partners, creating relationships and climates that provide an opportunity to share, collaborate and grow together.
Respect
We create a safe environment where we are curious of the lived experience of others, seek out best practice and are open to listening and hearing new ideas.
Improve
We are committed to consistently delivering excellent services and continuously looking to improve through a creative workforce that feels empowered to act in service of our shared purpose.
Committed to our Community
East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion for all job applicants, staff, patients and the wider community. We want to create a workforce which represents the communities we serve. We are on a journey to become a more inclusive organisation and we welcome applications from everyone regardless of their background. In particular we encourage applications from candidates with disabilities, and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who are currently under-represented in various parts of our workforce .
We understand the importance of balancing work and home life. We are committed to support flexible working for our staff wherever possible and all our employees are given the opportunity to discuss potential for flexible working.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and achieved our status in 2019.
We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact us by emailing
We are also proud to support our UK armed forces by supporting Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Veterans and military spouses/partners into employment and offering supportive policies that value their contribution to the community and to our Trust.
We are committed to being a carer-friendly environment, addressing the complex needs of families with caring responsibilities. In partnership with Carers in Hertfordshire, all our working carers have access to support from recruitment. We are also a member of Carers UK, providing resources to make balancing work and caring easier. Our approach is inclusive, recognizing diverse challenges and creating a supportive environment where carers feel valued.
When you apply...
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date in certain circumstances. Please ensure that you make your application as soon as possible.
All correspondence relating to vacancies will be via the e-mail address you have provided on your application form. Some servers automatically send e-mails to your junk mail so please check as well as your inbox.
As a publicly funded employer, we need to ensure we utilise our funds responsibly, this may mean we are unable to support sponsorship required to gain the right to work for particular positions. We strongly advise you to contact the line manager or a member of the Resourcing Team before applying to confirm if we will be able to support with sponsorship for that post.
King's Trust Support
If you’re aged between 16 and 30 years-old, you can get FREE employability support from The King’s Trust. The King’s Trust will help build your CV and cover letter, offer advice and top tips for future interviews and support you with research about working in the NHS. Please contact Enquiries.H& for support.
Secondments/Fixed term
Where a vacancy is advertised as a temporary position, the duration will be specified in the advert. If the vacancy becomes permanent towards the end of the specified duration, the successful applicant may not be required to re-apply and can be slotted into the role on a permanent basis if appropriate.
If you are an internal applicant applying for a temporary working arrangement, please see the attached notes on secondments.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
