Job summary
Expected Shortlisting Date:
03/01/2025
Planned Interview Date:
16/01/2025
We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated person to be become part of our mechanical engineering team in Radiotherapy Technology Services (RTS).
Working collaboratively with clinical and scientific staff, you will be supporting the clinical radiotherapy service to treat our patients though the safe and effective repair and maintenance of medical equipment including 12 Elekta VersaHD linacs, 3 Philips Brilliance Big Bore CT Simulators, a Flexitron remote afterloading unit, Gamma Knife ICON, and MR simulator.
In addition to this wide variety of equipment, your creativity and experience in managing medical devices will serve you well as you join our multidisciplinary project teams to provide mechanical engineering expertise in the design, development and manufacture of novel medical and non-medical devices to solve the unique challenges faced in delivering high quality care in radiotherapy and beyond.
The successful applicant will join us as we embark on a 6 year replacement programme to renew our fleet of linear accelerators and continue to improve patient care through the implementation of surface guided radiotherapy into our treatment pathway.
We welcome interested applicants to contact us for a departmental visit and more information on this role.
Main duties of the job
The main duties of the role include:
- Leading and participating in the diagnosis, maintenance, and repair of radiotherapy pre-treatment and treatment delivery systems.
- Supporting the installation and commissioning of new equipment.
- Leading and participating in multidisciplinary project teams to develop ideas and provide technical advice in the creation and implementation of novel designs to improve the safety and efficacy of patient treatment.
- Creating accurate and detailed engineering drawings.
- Using manufacturing and machining processes to realise designs.
- Developing and updating processes that are relevant to own areas of expertise.
- Actively participating in the training of medical engineering apprentices and trainees in mechanical engineering and medical equipment management skills.
- Maintaining accurate, detailed and timely records relating to design and development work as well as day to day medical equipment maintenance and fault resolution of radiotherapy equipment.
About us
Radiotherapy Technology Services (RTS) is a group within the Radiotherapy Physics section of the Department of Medical Physics and Engineering at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. RTS staff collaborate with clinical and scientific users of radiotherapy equipment to provide equipment management and related technical services.
The four teams in RTS; Clinical Computing, Electronics, Mechanical Engineering and Technical Services, collaborate to carry out activity in multidisciplinary workgroups.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest and busiest acute hospital trusts in the UK. We are committed to delivering the highest quality and safest treatment and care to every patient, every time. Our staff helped to define the values and behaviours that we should work to so that we can achieve this vision. This has become known as The Leeds Way, and forms the foundation of our culture, our ethos and how we work every day.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The jobholder plays a vital role in providing technical support and managing radiotherapy equipment by applying their expertise in mechanical engineering, device design, development, and manufacture. They often lead maintenance teams and make critical decisions within their area of competence, with a focus on quality assurance and clinical risk management.
The successful applicant will have experience working in a medical engineering environment, backed up with formal clinical technology training, and have professional registration as a clinical technologist, healthcare scientist or healthcare science practitioner.
Applications are also invited from unregistered technicians who may be appointed to a lower grade until relevant qualifications, experience and registration have been achieved, typically through in house specialist training combined with the IPEM clinical technologist training scheme.
PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Medical Equipment Management
- Engage in comprehensive radiotherapy technology support, including installation, fault diagnosis, repair, maintenance, calibration, modifications, and upgrades.
- Provide direct technical support and advice to radiotherapy managers, key trainers, and users of the technology.
- Participate in an on-call system that provides equipment management services outside of normal working hours.
- Ensure awareness of the safety and reliability of medical devices and address any discrepancies accordingly.
- Conduct risk analysis and management for medical device design and development.
Clinical and Scientific Support
- Lead and participate in internal projects providing specialist technical support to the modification and manufacturing of medical devices and associated accessories, with a focus on CAD design, testing, validation, and user support.
- Provide technical services to formal clinical research and development activity based on best industry practices.
- Produce custom made specialist treatment appliances and manufacture other medical and non-medical devices.
Management of Information
- Respect patient confidentiality at all times.
- Keep accurate and timely records of work completed.
- Convey complex technical information to radiotherapy staff and external manufacturers, contractors, and personnel.
Professional & Managerial
- Supervise, mentor, teach, and train staff, including medical engineering apprentices, trainee clinical technologists, clinical scientists, and radiotherapy technology users, within their area of expertise.
- Produce and update procedures in their area of expertise to maintain the RTS ISO 9001:2015 quality management system.
- Manage internal resources, including equipment maintenance and storage.
- Ensure compliance with Trust policies and safe working practices for themselves and any personnel who may come under their control.
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification information pack for further detailed information regarding this role.
Person Specification
Skills & Behaviours
Essential
1. Please give examples where you have communicated complex technical information to other professional groups (including equipment manufacturers) and lay persons.
2. Please give examples of your computer skills including using equipment management databases, spread sheet design, computer aided design packages, and other office applications.
3. Please give examples where you have demonstrated strong team working skills
Desirable
4. Please give examples of your ability to assess the risks associated with medical equipment failure.
Other Criteria
Essential
5. Please give examples of your ability to manually lift medium/heavy objects as well as safely use lifting equipment to precisely locate very heavy (500kg) objects
Experience
Essential
6. Please give examples of your practical experience and skills in the fault diagnosis, repair & calibration of complex equipment, ideally medical or similar complexity equipment from other industries.
7. Please give examples of your experience in device design, development, manufacture, and implementation as per Medical Device Regulations.
8. Please give examples of your experience using quality management principles in the management of equipment.
9. Please give examples of your experience in safely working with hand and machine tools, such as lathes, milling machines, bandsaws, etc., to manufacture products to a design specification.
Desirable
10. Please give examples of your experience working in a healthcare environment
11. Give examples of your experience in performing maintenance and fault resolution on medical radiation equipment such as x-ray sets, CT scanners, linear accelerators, etc. in a technical capacity.
Qualifications
Essential
12. Relevant degree in Engineering or Healthcare Science or Clinical Technology (Engineering), or equivalent level of knowledge and qualification.
13. Professional registration as Clinical Technologist (RCT or AHCS), or qualifications to enable registration as a Clinical Technologist with RCT following a suitable training programme
Desirable
14. Attendance and successful completion of manufacturer provided radiotherapy equipment training courses.