Cancer patients to benefit from physicist's fellowship

A radiotherapy physicist from University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) has been granted a Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship by NHS England (NHSE).

The Fellowship, part of NHSE’s National School of Healthcare Science, is dedicated to reducing healthcare inequalities through the use of innovative technologies for diagnosis, monitoring or management of long-term conditions, helping people to live their lives well.

Joshua Naylor’s project proposal, which will look at new ways of using technology to target lung cancer, was commended for its potential to make “significant differences to patients’ radiotherapy treatment, in terms of quality, safety, and experience”.

For most patients who receive radiotherapy as part of their lung cancer treatment, beams of intense energy are targeted at tumour cells to kill them, but can also damage healthy tissue. Tumours in the lungs move with breathing, so a large safety margin has to be used, which can also affect non-cancerous tissue and create further side effects. Joshua’s project hopes to create a better experience for patients by addressing this issue.

He said: “During this fellowship, I will work closely with our manufacturer Vision RT to develop a new feature which will allow us to more accurately treat lung cancer, and reduce the side effects experienced by patients.

“It’s a huge privilege to win this innovation fellowship, and it is a great opportunity to be able to improve the care we give our patients. Some lung cancer patients currently have to travel to other radiotherapy centres further afield, and this new technology will allow us to treat them here at Poole.

“It is really exciting to be able to work with Vision RT on this project; we’re one of only a couple of centres in the world who are doing this pre-clinical testing, and it allows us to ensure the technology fits our patients’ needs.

“The fellowship also provides an opportunity to link up with, and learn from, experts in Devices for Dignity MedTech and NHS England among othesr, which will be a really valuable experience.”

For more information about NHSE’s Fellowship, visit their website: https://nshcs.hee.nhs.uk/programmes/healthcare-science-innovation-fellowships/