Radiotherapy and Oncology BSc

Therapeutic radiographers play a vital role in the treatment of cancer. They work as part of a team, using their scientific and technical expertise as well as their interpersonal skills to plan and deliver radiotherapy treatment and provide patient information in the management of side effects in a compassionate clinical environment.

Approved by the Society and College of Radiographers (SoR) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), this Radiotherapy and Oncology BSc programme is taught by trained and registered therapeutic radiographers with a wide range of clinical and educational experience. With half of your study time spent in clinical practice, you will also have access to our state-of-the-art simulation suite, learning how to plan and deliver treatment and will graduate with the attributes and confidence to work as a therapeutic radiographer in a radiotherapy department.

This qualification offers a range of career opportunities in hospitals and other clinical settings, with the option to progress towards clinical specialisation, management, teaching and research careers. Career options in the UK include treatment planning, treatment delivery, patient support, treatment review and drug prescribing, palliative care, quality assurance, management, teaching and research in radiotherapy practice. Other graduate career pathways include physician associate study, graduate entry to medicine and postgraduate routes into mammography (breast screening).

Course highlights

• Our shared campus with a teaching hospital, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, means you will be surrounded by like-minded students and immersed in a healthcare environment.

• Time split between academic study and clinical practice, with time spent in a variety of different clinical settings.

• Cutting-edge facilities include our Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Treatment suite (VERT), pathology museum, anatomy and dissection rooms and radiotherapy treatment planning suite, enabling you to learn clinical skills in a safe environment.

About St George’s, University of London

Established in 1752, St George’s is the UK’s specialist health university and is dedicated to medical and health sciences education, training and research. We share our site with a major London teaching hospital, which is both on the clinical frontline for a diverse local community and a centre of excellence for specialist conditions. At St George's, you’ll study in a clinical setting with like-minded individuals working across a variety of healthcare professions.

The time on the programme is split approximately 50/50 between university based learning and clinical placements.
Year 1
In Year 1, you begin your learning about caring for people with cancer, how cancer is treated and concepts of radiation treatment, learning treatment planning skills throughout the course. You will also gain knowledge of anatomy and imaging plus work in the clinical department putting skills and knowledge into practice.

You will participate in the Essentials of Radiotherapy module, developing your unique identity as a St George’s University of London Therapeutic Radiographer, learning in an environment alongside different health professional groups, including healthcare sciences, medicine, physiotherapy, diagnostic radiography, occupational therapy, pharmacy and biomedical sciences. Where possible, we also organise interprofessional topic-focused days, for example, on professionalism and team working within healthcare.

Year 2
In Year 2, you will build upon your knowledge and skills from Year 1. In the discipline specific modules Principles and Practice of Radiotherapy, you will learn about specific cancers, how we care for people with these tumours and the detailed complex treatment with radiotherapy. Learning on the VERT and Treatment Planning System is embedded within these modules. You will learn about imaging on treatment to ensure treatment accuracy using specialist software that is used in clinical departments. This helps you to become ‘employment ready’. You also study Research Methods in readiness to complete your own research in Year 3. Our remote cloud-based Treatment Planning System means that you can access it on a smart device to help you to continue to practice your Treatment Planning Skills remotely. You will learn treatment planning from Year 1 and build on those important knowledge and skills throughout the three years.

Year 3
In the final year, the focus is on integrating your knowledge and practice skills, you will further develop your clinical skills within the radiotherapy department. You will have the opportunity to go on an elective placement, which may be in UK or abroad (subject to successful completion of clinical competencies, clinical hours and academic work). An interprofessional module enables you to learn and work alongside students from physiotherapy, diagnostic radiography and occupational therapy to explore quality and service improvement within healthcare.

In the final year you will also be provided an opportunity to engage in a suitable research activity of your choice, where you will plan, design and produce a written article for publication. Many of our students have published their work in radiography journals, for example, one student reviewed the support needs and services for adolescent’s post-cancer; and another published their research on how the risk of heart problems can be reduced when using external beam radiotherapy (ERT) to treat breast cancer.

You will be ready to graduate with the full attributes, skills and knowledge required of a therapeutic radiographer in the changing healthcare environment, ready to become future leaders in this exciting profession. Our graduates have gone on to work in NHS hospitals and private providers throughout the country and in Europe, as well as the UK’s specialist National Proton Centres in London and Manchester.

You can read more about placement opportunities here: https://www.sgul.ac.uk/study/courses/radiotherapy-and-oncology#course-structure-

A combination of academic coursework (including essays, reports and presentations), written and practical examinations, portfolios, practice placement assessments and a research dissertation are used to assess your progress.

Because we want you to reach your full potential, we build in opportunities for formative assessments and provide feedback on assessment tasks so you know what you need to do to optimise your performance.

Further information about assessment methods for this course can be found on our website: https://www.sgul.ac.uk/study/courses/radiotherapy-and-oncology#teaching-and-learning

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Radiographers, College of
• Health and Care Professions Council