I am pleased to present Volume 11 Issue 1 of the Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice. Last year was the 10th anniversary of the Journal and to mark this event, Cambridge University Press agreed to sponsor a prize for the Best Paper to recognise the best referred original paper published in the Journal.
The award is a book title published by Cambridge University Press and will be awarded annually to coincide with publication of each volume. The procedure and criteria for the award of Best Paper can we found on the Journals web site.
I am pleased to announce the best paper author from Volume 10 is Julie Hendry for the paper’ ‘A qualitative focus group study to explore the information, support and communication needs of women receiving adjuvant radiotherapy for primary breast cancer’ (Reference Hendry1). Julie is a senior lecturer at the School of Radiography, Kingston University and St George’s University of London. It is pleasing to note that in the world of technological advances, improving the patient experience is very much at the forefront of research. In her paper, Julie presents the results of her study aimed to explore the patient’s experience of the radiotherapy pathway with a view to improving patient-centered services. Focus groups were used to explore the information, support and communication needs of women receiving adjuvant radiotherapy for primary breast cancer. Five main themes emerged: information, communication and support, dignity and individualised care, service accessibility and staff relationships. Generally, staff were viewed as professionals and the radiotherapy service well run although women did identify several unmet needs during radiotherapy. Lack of information and perceived time constraints of busy staff was revealed. Women did feel they had been treated with dignity and respect and as individuals. However, this study does reveal a range of issues raised about the ‘end of treatment’ support.
I would like to extend a huge thank you to all those individuals who undertook the many reviews of papers for the last volume. In order to recognise the invaluable role reviewers play in the success of the Journal, Cambridge University Press have also agreed to sponsor an award for the Best Reviewer, this is a book title published by Cambridge University Press. There are so many reviewers who deserve the award, however, for Volume 10; this is awarded to Kris Armoogum, who is a Senior Radiotherapy Physicist at the Department of Radiotherapy at the Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, United Kingdom.
Congratulations to both Julie and Kris and I hope you enjoy the variety of papers in this issue of the Journal.
Professor Angela Duxbury
