Wolverhampton hospital's long-serving scientist hangs up gown after 40 years serving Black Country cancer patients
A scientist who gave radiation treatment to thousands of cancer patients is hanging up his gown after four decades service at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.
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Consultant clinical scientist Tervinder Matharu who ran the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust's radiotherapy physics unit has retired after 40 years service, at 42 years to the day that he joined the NHS.
He started working at the department at New Cross on October 29, 1984 and has remained there.
The 66-year-old was given a fitting farewell by the 20-strong team who design radiation treatment for patients.
They presented him with gifts including a fun black t-shirt with the words 'Retired. Under new management. See grandkids for detail ' printed on the front.
Tervinder, a father-of two, says: “Working at RWT has been like being in a family.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed working together as a team, learning from each other and supporting each other.
“Other highlights have been introducing new techniques, meeting technical challenges and developing techniques for individual patients, as well as teaching and training staff.”
During his long career he worked closely with oncologists and radiographers who deliver radiation therapy, ensuring machines deliver the correct amount of radiation.
He started his career in the medical physics department at Churchill Hospital in Oxford in 1983 after graduating in biomedical electronics and after a year moved to New Cross.
His manager and the trust's head of medical physics and clinical engineering Malcolm Foley says: “Tervinder's greatest achievement was overseeing the huge technology changes that radiotherapy treatments have undergone.
“He’s very modest but his biggest satisfaction is knowing he’s contributed to the cancer treatment of thousands of patients. He’s a perfectionist and very focused on every patient having the best radiation treatment plan – an ethos all his staff admirably follow.
“He often stayed late and worked long hours, putting the patient before himself.
“Tervinder started when radiotherapy treatments were very basic compared to today. There was one radiation planning computer that could model one patient at a time. The equipment delivering the x-radiation – of which there were two – was very basic.
“Now the computer systems allow more patient-specific treatments to be generated and multiple patients can be planned at the same time by different operators. There are now four computer-controlled x-radiation machines allowing a full range of shapes and sizes of radiation fields to deliver customised treatments.”
He adds that Tervinder’s perfectionism even went as far as the department's Christmas celebrations.
“At the old Royal Hospital wards used to enter competitions to ‘dress up and decorate’ their areas. One year we followed the theme of Wizard of Oz. The spiral of the yellow brick road started in what was the medical physics waiting room and went through to radiotherapy.
"Tervinder insisted the spiral was perfect which frustrated – in a nice way – other staff at how many changes had to be made.”
Tevrinder, also a gandfather, now wants to spend more time with wife Ranjit and daughters Gurpreet, aged 33, and Maiya, aged 29, who works as a pharmacist at at the trust. And says he is especially looking forward to the birth of his second grandson next month.
