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.”

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.