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Karen
Radiotherapy Department Manager
“I manage a large team of
people and try to offer a seamless service to our patients.
I manage our waiting lists, service standards and staff
conditions and development.” |
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Karen manages the largest single-site
radiology department in Europe. She's responsible for over
80 staff, department machines and the well-being of patients
who come in for cancer treatment. Radiographers who treat
cancer are known as therapeutic
radiographers.
This is a big department.
Yes. A full establishment of staff is 70 radiographers (full-time
or full time equivalents, like job shares), 5 Therapy Care
workers (these are auxiliary nurses) and 7 Linnac
support workers.
Linnacc?
The machines are Linear Accelerators, known as Linnaccs for
short.
Big team.
It is. But it's important that it is a team. That's why
I still wear a uniform, we're all part of the same team. I
spend most of my time 'managing' but I still carry out treatments,
for instance some lunchtimes.
What does the managing include?
I think of it under a number of headings.
I manage the workload. I'm responsible directly to my line-manager
and then to the Strategic
Health Authority for treating a certain number
of patients. Even though we're short of radiographers, patient
numbers don't go down. We have to manage the waiting lists
for treatment – clearly people need to be treated as
quickly as possible.
I look after the staff. I carry out staff appraisals and
try to make sure that there's a high level of job satisfaction.
I'm responsible for staff recruitment – though I only
personally interview for staff in the higher grades. I don't
have time to do all interviews. (There's a great demand for
therapeutic radiographers. You could get a job almost anywhere
you want.)
Then I have to make sure that the department is kept technically
up to date. That means making sure we're using the latest
techniques. More than that, we're leaders in developing new
and better ways of treating patients. I get to publish articles
and speak at conferences – I was in Amsterdam earlier
in the year. I encourage staff to publish and speak too.
I'm also responsible for quality assurance. We have to meet
very high standards in everything we do – these are
set by outside bodies. We check internally to make sure
we're meeting them. Outside people come and check our written
work, then come and look to make sure we're putting it into
practice too.
There's also my own personal development. I'm an ambassador
for the department when I'm meeting with others. I've got
to ensure that I'm always up to date.
All this and a husband and a three-year old!
An understanding husband! We have a crèche at the
hospital. We try to look after our staff 'in the round'. There
are lots ways of supporting staff. Through maternity and while
children are young is just one of them.
We offer stress release systems – reflexology, massage,
aromatherapy, a gym. We offer flexible working patterns when
we can.
How does treatment work?
It's changing all the time – and patients are changing.
Nowadays they've often looked up their illness or treatment
on the internet so they have a good idea of what they want
to happen.
A patient can come in for a single shot or treatment over
six weeks (that's the longest.) We divide treatment into three
types. Palliative care is
when we know we can't cure the person, but we want to make
things better. Palliative treatment is quite a short course.
Then there's radical treatment.
This is when we're aiming at a cure – it could be three
weeks or more. It's not every day - breaks are planned in.
Finally there's adjuvant care
– this is where the radiology works in conjunction with
something else to aim at a cure – for instance with
chemotherapy or surgery.
Are there bad bits to
your job?
It's quite stressful. And sometimes I feel I'm trapped between
a rock and a hard place. The bosses say, "You need to
make such and such happen." And I say,"'I've only
got the same number of staff." And they say, "You're
the manager." People think because you're the manager
you've got all the answers.
What good bits make up for the bad bits?
The satisfaction of actually finding those answers! Being
efficient, providing a seamless service, and a happy, healthy
staff. A team with good morale – that's a real achievement.
Nothing beats that. |