On Wednesday, the Upper VI Physicists had the privilege of visiting the local NHS Radiotherapy centre at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. This practical experience allowed us to build upon our current knowledge gained from our Medical Physics lessons within our A Level course.

In four small groups, we were shown different aspects of Radiotherapy in use to aid prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care of patients.

We had the opportunity to see the complex SPECT CT scanner, where we were shown multiple real tumour scans on the screens. A Radiographer, Physicist and trainee Physicist gave us three very different insights from both a theoretical and practical viewpoint.
Similarly, we saw the Radiotherapy CT scanner showed us how the hospital initially diagnoses tumours and uses software to analyse movement to identify and outline all area covered by the tumour.

Clinical Engineers explained their work on Radiographic protection of both patients and the public – one of the many key roles that is often overlooked. Their work includes monitoring equipment function, such as the use of a portable phantom box for testing the accuracy of ultrasound transducers – this was demonstrated by the specialist in non-ionising radiation protection.

A personal favourite was the Linear Accelerator (Linac), which not only used the CAT scan images to position the body for treatment but also used a 3D camera to focus the X-ray beams. We were allowed to see the internal mechanics of the Linac and how it uses the electron gun – Mr Hills’ favourite!

Finally, we were all addressed by the Head of Radiotherapy at the Royal Berks, who talked about the wide range of job roles and different pathways into this important field of Medical Physics.

We would like to thank the whole team at the Radiography centre for allowing us to visit!

Rosie and Shriyaa