Radiotherapy Physics
Radiotherapy Physics is a team of approximately 40 physicists, technologists, engineers and trainees providing scientific, technical and clinical services to Radiotherapy.
We foster a strong multidisciplinary approach to patient care with the Clinical Oncology and Radiotherapy Radiographer team, with the support of our administration staff.
Together we drive clinical service provision, strategic service development, innovation and research to give our patients the best possible care.
We also collaborate closely with the University of Oxford and other research partners.
At the Cancer and Haematology centre we have:
- six linear accelerators (linacs) enabled for intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), kV cone beam CT (CBCT) and real-time position management (RPM): one linac is additionally enabled for stereotactic treatment (e.g. SRS, stereotactic radiosurgery) with the ExacTrac imaging system
- a CT scanner enabled for four-dimensional CT (4DCT)
- high dose rate (HDR) and low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy services
- a wide variety of radiation dosimetry measurement and calibration equipment.
We deliver radiotherapy with a wide variety of treatment techniques including:
- conformal radiotherapy
- IMRT
- VMAT
- total body irradiation (TBI)
- stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR)
- SRS and other stereotactic techniques
- brachytherapy for gynaecological, urological and other sites.
Services we provide
- Radiation dosimetry, measurement and calibration
- Radiotherapy treatment planning
- Quality assurance of treatment and imaging systems
- Patient-specific dosimetry
- Advice from Medical Physics Experts (MPEs) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) qualified staff for all aspects of equipment and the radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery process
- Service development, innovation, research and support for clinical trials
- Training for all staff groups including physicists as part of the programmes run by the National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
- Mentoring and training of other NHS Trusts for advanced radiotherapy techniques including SABR
2021 update
In 2021 we embarked on an exciting journey to inject modernisation and increased capacity into the radiotherapy services available across Oxfordshire and the South of England. All treatment and simulation equipment is being replaced with cutting-edge, fully featured machines with the addition of a second CT scanner.
Additionally, our satellite radiotherapy centre under construction in Swindon is bringing another two linacs and one CT scanner to the community from Spring 2022.
Finally, we plan to significantly increase our treatment planning capacity and capability from Spring 2021.
Development work
- IMRT breast radiotherapy
- Auto-contouring for treatment planning, including ongoing research with industry partners
- 3D printing technology for patient bolus and other applications
- Automated planning with in-house scripting
- Automatic image analysis and QA with in-house software
- Introduction of new treatment planning dose calculation algorithms
- Implementation of a department wide, open-source QA database platform
- In-vivo patient dosimetry
- Contribution to national guidance documents and policy
Find us and contact us
Jonathan Lane
Head of Radiotherapy Physics
Radiotherapy Physics Department
Churchill Hospital
Email: jonathan.lane1@ouh.nhs.uk
Tel: 01865 226234
We welcome queries from patients and their families about our service.
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