Innovation

Project Background

There are 60 cancer centres in the UK delivering radiotherapy services, with around 40-50% of people receiving radiotherapy as part of their treatment. In England, this means that over 130,000 people have radiotherapy each year. With cancer incidence continuing to rise at around 3% per annum, and better screening and diagnostic techniques increasing the proportion of patient diagnosed with early-stage disease, many more people will require radiotherapy as part of their treatment.

The ability to continue to provide the most advanced and innovative radiotherapy in a timely way to patients, relies on the availability of advanced equipment and new technologies, as well as a robust, resilient, and highly skilled workforce. Investment in the multidisciplinary team is necessary to ensure patients are treated as safely, effectively, and quickly as possible.

Investment in the radiotherapy workforce will mean:

• Improved cure rates for cancer patients.
• Better compliance with cancer waiting time targets, including the proposed 17-day referral to treatment target.
• Better patient experience, e.g. by enabling shorter courses of treatment and reducing waiting times.
• Better implementation of new technologies to improve quality and safety; and
• A service that can cope better with expected increases in future demand for radiotherapy.

The project was initiated following feedback and reports from radiotherapy colleagues who found it difficult to attract interest and engagement from participants at career fairs and events. Some of this was due to not being able to showcase much about radiotherapy careers during these events.

There were some good examples from the Diagnostic Radiographer workforce of using virtual reality to provide an immersive experience for people interested in radiographer roles.

Project Overview

Network managers from the East of England Radiotherapy Network, Northern Radiotherapy Network, and Yorkshire and Humber Radiotherapy Network have been working with radiotherapy colleagues from across the country to develop a virtual reality workplace experience. The production team at Animersion UK used high-tech 360-degree cameras to film radiotherapy professionals in their working environment.

The content includes Therapeutic Radiographers (one of the Allied Health professions) as well as Clinical Technologists and Clinical Scientists. Users will be able to see and hear from radiotherapy staff about their roles and how they got into their careers. They’ll be able to enter a radiotherapy treatment room and see the multi-million-pound treatment machines, called linear accelerators, used to deliver high doses of radiation to treat cancer.

Take a look at the video below and useful links for further information.