Radiotherapy Physics

The Radiotherapy Physics section, based at The St James’s Institute of Oncology, provides scientific and technical support to the Radiotherapy Department within the Yorkshire Regional Centre for Cancer Treatment. There are around 20 physicists, 14 dosimetrists, and 20 technicians providing treatment planning, dosimetry, mould room, brachytherapy, treatment machine maintenance and quality assurance and computing. The treatment centre is a major radiotherapy centre serving a population of 2.7M and providing 5,500 new courses of treatment per annum. The facility within St James’s University Hospital includes 10 linear accelerators, and has two additional bunkers for research purposes.

There are three sections within Radiotherapy Physics, treatment planning and dosimetry, brachytherapy and radiotherapy technology, each led by a senior physicist. The treatment planning and brachytherapy sections together with radiotherapy are accredited under ISO 9001 whereas the radiotherapy technology section works under a separate externally audited, ISO 9002, quality system.

Cookridge Hospital was the first in the UK to offer brachytherapy treatment using I125 seeds for the treatment of prostate cancer. The brachytherapy section provided the physics input to this form of treatment and has been involved in training health professionals both within the UK and internationally.

 Link to Radiotherapy Services