Rachel - Senior 1 Therapeutic Radiographer

“As a therapeutic radiographer I’m part of an oncology team; we’re dedicated to treating patients who have cancer. The role requires a caring nature balanced with good practical skills and a thirst for technical problem-solving.”

After working for about four years as a radiographer in a hospital department Rachel was promoted to Senior 1 – a team leader. She has a team of about four people and they work with expensive hi-tech machines to help people with cancers. In her job she works with many other professionals.

How do you set about helping people then?

I work in an oncology department; the majority of our patients are outpatients. A few patients may need to stay on the ward whilst they are undergoing a course of treatment; this may be because of side effects or they may need additional treatments like chemotherapy.

Oncology – that means cancer doesn't it?

Yes. I work with machines that produce very high voltage X-rays (mega volts) that have the ability to kill cancer cells.

Some of your patients must be very ill then; isn't that depressing?

People often ask me that. But it isn't. There's a very positive atmosphere here in the department. Most patients who attend treatment as outpatients feel very well in themselves. They carry on with their daily lives and they’re optimistic about the outcome of the treatment. Sometimes we see people in great pain or who are very ill. We aim to remove the cancer from them and when we can’t do that we can often help to at least relieve them of their pain. We can change people's lives and there are many happy outcomes. We've got thousands of cards from patients thanking us.

Tell us how you set about your job.

A new patient comes in for a planning session first. We use a simulator machine for this and it enables us to make all the necessary calculations to plan their treatment – things like how much radiation, over what period of days and so on.

You have to make sure you are giving the right dose in the right place and over the right area. For instance, if someone has a tumour on their lung you have to make sure you're not going to damage their spine with the radiation. The person's size and shape makes a difference, too. We do the calculations and mark the patient’s skin ready for treatment.

It sounds complicated.

There's a lot of responsibility. We radiographers always work in pairs so we can check each other. There's also a doctor involved (who will be a consultant oncologist) and physicists – they're very much specialists in radiation, like knowing how much of it will be absorbed by other parts of the body.

If a patient comes in for a radical course of treatment they may be sent for a CT scan. This builds up pictures of 'slices' of the body; we feed these into a computer that creates a 3D picture. A doctor draws round the area to be treated and we decide how best to deliver the treatment. It's a balance between zapping the cancerous cells and not damaging other areas.

After the planning, how does treatment work?

People come in for daily treatments. They lie on a special sort of bed that can move up and down and sideways. Then we manoeuvre the machine into the right position and give the treatment. But my job isn't just about giving the treatment. Radiographers can be involved in all aspects of a patient’s treatment; from the calculation and careful planning of the treatment, to administering the treatment itself, through to the review and follow up stages of treatment. We try to put patients at their ease and we can dispense certain drugs that have been prescribed for them.

What we’re trying to do is to think of the patient’s treatment as a whole, not in separate parts. We try to provide psychological and social support and their referrals on, as well as just managing their treatment and any related physical side effects.

What about your machines?

We have five here and another that's lower energy for things like skin cancers. They cost about £1 million each.
Any bad bits of the job?

Seeing patients very ill or in great pain – but you learn how to handle that, and we have support. We are very short staffed at the moment and this can make things quite stressful. We’ve real hopes this will improve over the next few years as more people are coming into the job.

Good bits?

The very best is seeing the difference you make, watching patients come through it. Seeing that after a few days they're in less pain, or can breathe more easily. Other bits I specially like are solving new problems, finding the best ways to treat people (and planning for that).

How did you decide to become a radiographer?

At school I always wanted to be involved in medicine, but came to realise that being a doctor or a nurse wasn't for me. I read about being a radiographer. Building up relationships with patients was important to me, but I liked the sound of the technical side too. I realised being a radiographer would be right up my street. In this job you really feel like you make a difference!

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