Meet the team: Worcestershire Royal Hospital Oncology Centre

The Worcestershire Royal Hospital’s Oncology Centre has been delivering radiotherapy treatments to cancer patients since it opened in January 2015. Patients who previously had to travel to Cheltenham, Wolverhampton or Coventry have instead been visiting the £23m centre, saving an estimated one million miles of travel a year.

The oncology centre is an adult-only service that treats the majority of cancers, excluding neurological and sarcomas – those they leave for the specialists. Last year, the centre saw 1,500 patients pass through its halls and receive radiotherapy treatment – amounting to around 19,000 fractions (individual radiotherapy sessions). 

Synergy asked members of the radiotherapy team about their experiences at the oncology centre, what it’s like operating within the Worcestershire Royal and how they are working to improve patient experience.

Patient care and community

Sophie Owen, Band 6 Therapeutic Radiographer, has worked at the Worcestershire Royal for three years – starting first in 2016 until 2018, then returning in 2022 until 2023, before coming back a third time in late 2024. So what keeps bringing her back? “Worcester is my home,” Sophie explains. “I went to live in Bristol for a while and I retrained to become a vet nurse – but I wanted to keep my registration as a radiographer. I missed the patient care side of it, so I decided to come back full time.”

Claire Bode, radiotherapy service manager at the Worcestershire Royal, has been working at the hospital for six years. Previously, she worked at the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital, also part of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, where she was technical lead for several years. But her career overall at the Queen Elizabeth spanned almost 25 years – until in 2018 she decided she needed a change. Given the opportunity to become a service manager and help shape the department at the oncology centre, Claire made the change.

Working at the much smaller oncology centre has been a big transition, she says. The Queen Elizabeth is a regional centre for paediatrics, among other modalities, and deals with a huge volume of patients. “The workload was very high; they had triple the staff we have here – when I came here [Worcestershire Royal Hospital Oncology Centre] it was probably one of the smallest departments in the West Midlands. Going from a very busy department to the opposite end of the scale was a difficult transition,” says Claire.

“Everybody works here as one family. There are always people to support you; you always feel that you can go to people to ask for help. The hierarchy is very flat. We’re all very forward thinking; we’ve always got the patients at the centre of everything we do.”

One of the primary benefits of that flat hierarchy, she continues, is that the staff have the opportunity to develop into and lead projects they wouldn’t get the chance to do in larger departments.

Recently, the centre has set up a hydrotherapy service to help predominantly breast cancer patients reduce lymphedema and improve shoulder motion post radiotherapy – a service that might have struggled to get off the ground in a busier hospital.

An advantage of smaller hospitals both Sophie and Claire mention is the ability to spend more time with patients. At a larger and busier radiotherapy department, Sophie says appointment slots are often shorter, and there isn’t as much time to engage with patients. “We’re here for the patients,” adds Claire. “That’s how it should be, regardless of size, but I understand the pressures facing bigger departments, and staff don’t always get the opportunity.

“We have oncology clinics within the department, so we see patients coming back for those appointments as well. Quite often, they have a chat with the staff that treated them. Staff know most patients on most machines – one of the things we implemented during Covid was a huddle every morning. That helps relationships in the department as a whole.

“We feel like we’re part of a family. We’re here to support each other as well as our patients.”

A welcoming environment

Prajith Kumar is a Band 5 radiographer at the oncology centre, where he has been working for more than three months, since transitioning from a radiographer role in India. 

As an international recruit, Prajith initially found the transition quite difficult to manage. It was only after getting used to working at the hospital, being in a new place with a new culture, that he felt more comfortable. “They’re very supportive,” says Prajith. “It’s quite different in terms of work culture, but it’s been nice. I enjoy everything I do at my work – the main thing is that I get more interaction with my patients. It’s more interactive, I can speak a lot to them, connect with them, get to know how they feel. That’s the thing I enjoy the most.”

Having worked in radiotherapy for the last three years, Prajith has found the oncology centre to be one of the most caring departments. “They have a big role in what we are giving to the patients,” he says. “They’re really committed, really knowledgeable and very professional.”

Through working here, Prajith has been able to work toward developing that same commitment and professionalism around patient care. 

One of the challenges that comes up consistently for anyone working in radiotherapy, he says, is the emotional dimension. Though he hasn’t treated any paediatric patients at the oncology centre, when he has done so in the past, he has found discussing their treatment with the family one of the most difficult aspects. “What I would do is just talk about it with my colleagues,” he explains. “I would try to convince the patient and their family members that we’re going to do everything we can to help them out.”

Prajith agrees with Claire that the oncology centre has a ‘flat hierarchy’: “If I’m feeling any difficulties in terms of work, or anything other than work, I can speak to the team lead or to the manager. That was very helpful during my transition period, too.

“It was hard to make friends when I came over, and they guided me through how to acclimatise to the new country and new culture.”

‘It’s made me more confident’

Charlie Pike is a Band 6 Therapeutic Radiographer who has been working at the Worcestershire Royal for just over two months, after three years in Swansea. As an agency worker, Charlie has a unique perspective on the oncology centre, especially as compared to his previous place of work.

His first job after graduation was in Swansea, which was a permanent role. Despite being a similar size, Charlie describes Swansea as slightly busier – but otherwise the two are a mirror image of each other. Still, the differences between the two have made Charlie much more conscious of the difficulties facing the radiography profession. “They have a lot more staff at Swansea,” he says. “Not that it feels understaffed here – because it was a busier department, they had more staff to compensate. Everyone’s got very clear roles here, and everyone’s very particular with what you can do. Back in Swansea, your responsibilities weren’t necessarily decided by your banding – it was more about your experience and what you felt capable of.”

As an agency worker at the oncology centre, Charlie has had to get accustomed to his new workplace swiftly. Fortunately, he says, the team has been very welcoming: “It didn’t take long to get to know everyone. Having worked in two departments, although we’re all doing the same thing, the way we achieve that can be very different. What’s prioritised is different, too – certain treatments are very hot here, which we may not have been on in Swansea, and vice versa.”

Another benefit of the oncology centre’s smaller size – and the fact it is younger than many similar treatment centres – is that there have been relatively few changes in leadership and management. Many of the team have worked there since the centre was established, working to implement protocols and ensure they remain up to original standards.

“Working in a different centre, even though it’s only been a month [at the time of interview], has already taught me a lot more than if I’d stayed in Swansea,” Charlie continues. “Seeing how something could be done differently, gaining that perspective, has definitely deepened my understanding of the principles and practice of radiotherapy. It’s made me more confident. It reinforces everything.

“The team is really nice too. People don’t put unnecessary pressure, unnecessary burdens, on you – it’s the little things, like making sure you go home on time, making sure you have your breaks, making sure you have your lunch. It’s nice to have those boundaries respected.”

Much like the rest of the radiotherapy team, Charlie also values the greater amount of patient interaction the oncology centre allows. Also, review teams for different specialisms make sure not to just review patients post treatment, but to spend time on the treatment machines – which really helps with continuity of care, he explains. “It makes it easier for us to pass information to them, because they’re physically present, but they also get a better perspective on how patients are getting on, because they’re physically seeing the patient get treated, rather than in the review office after their treatment. 

“Because it’s a smaller department, and you have people in those specialist roles, they feel much more accessible. It’s a good method of working.”

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