To: Apprenticeship Trailblazers Team by email apprenticeship.trailblazers@bis.gsi.gov.uk Expression of Interest and proposal to develop Trailblazer Apprenticeship Standards in Healthcare Science for Healthcare Science Associates (Level 5) and Healthcare Science Practitioners (Level 6) I am writing as the NHS Chief Scientific Officer for England (CSO), professionally responsible for the Healthcare Science (HCS) workforce and Chair of the Trailblazer Group in HCS, to propose new apprenticeship developments in HCS. There is already an existing HCS Apprenticeship Standards Development Group which to date has developed Level 2 and Level 4 Standards in HCS, both of which have received Ministerial approval I will continue to Chair the group and lead this work. The HCS Trailblazer group has not previously submitted an EOI for HCS apprenticeships at Levels 5 and 6. I am working with a group of employers 1 all of whom are committed to working together to develop these apprenticeship standards and to see these through to delivery. The occupations that we would like to develop apprenticeship standards are: a) Healthcare Science Senior Associate (Level 5) Healthcare Science Senior Associates (Level 5) are part of the HCS support workforce. Level 5 HCS Senior Associates will be expected to obtain an accredited Foundation degree in Healthcare Science to support them as they acquire and develop their knowledge and practical skills and apply these during their work-based experiential learning. They will be expected to adhere to Good Scientific Practice 2, placing the patient at the centre of care and their responsibilities will include (depending on the area of HCS in which they work): 1 An indicative list from 3 of the 10 regions in England in Appendix 1 - Level 6 [132 proposed]) and Appendix 2 - Level 5 [36 proposed]), demonstrates the level of interest in these developments. 2 http://ahcs.flinthosts.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ahcs-good-scientific-practice.pdf 1
perform range of HCS technical/scientific activities e.g. standard diagnostic, therapeutic, monitoring or equipment management procedures appropriate to the specialism, including preparation of patients/equipment/samples; performance of procedures; generation of results. operate and maintain complex equipment provide technical and analytical support to registered Healthcare Practitioners and Clinical Scientists maintain accurate records in relation to the range of technical/scientific activities undertaken plan, allocate and supervise more junior HCS support workers recognise the limits of their practice and refer issues to registered practitioners and other colleagues as required. Although the Senior Associate role is not necessarily represented within every HCS specialism area, there are sufficient employers who do have a role for Senior Associates, e.g. in clinical engineering and in some areas of physiological science, which is sufficiently distinct from the Associate (Level 4) and/or Practitioner roles to warrant the development of a Level 5 Senior Associate Apprenticeship. HCS Senior Associates will have the knowledge, skills, experience, attitudes and behaviours to support the work of HCS Practitioners and Clinical Scientists in performing high quality, safe, diagnostic, therapeutic and monitoring technical and scientific procedures. They will be employed in roles within hospitals, general practice and other settings in the healthcare sector across all areas of HCS within the HCS specialism in which they are employed. Associates currently access employer-funded Foundation degrees in considerable numbers, enabling them, where appropriate to progress their careers and education through to Health Care Science Practitioner. The HCS Level 5 Senior Associate apprenticeship will require rigorous and substantial training of approximately 30- months to achieve full competence, at least 20% of which will be off-the-job training in order to achieve the Foundation degree and required competences of a Senior Associate. Level 5 HCS Senior Associates will be eligible to register on the Associate accredited register at Level 5, which will be held by the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS). b) Healthcare Science Practitioner [HCSP] (Level 6) Healthcare Science Practitioners (HCSPs) will have the necessary expertise in applied scientific techniques within a specialism or related specialisms and will work in a range of healthcare settings, with a clearly defined technologically 2
based role in the delivery and technical reporting of quality assured tests, investigations and interventions for patients, on samples or equipment. In a number of specialisms, HCSPs will provide therapeutic interventions, some of which may be specialist. Whilst HCSP activities are outlined in protocols they must use judgement and deal with ambiguity. Since they are registered practitioners they have significantly greater responsibility and accountability than those in the associate workforce. Their underpinning academic qualification will be a BSc (Hons) degree in HCS, either through an accredited HCS Practitioner Training Programme (PTP) or, in the Life Sciences, through an approved Biomedical Scientist (BMS) degree. Their responsibilities will include (depending on the specific area of HCS in which they work): communicating complex clinical technical test information to health care colleagues responding to inquiries and explaining the technical aspects of results, reassuring clinicians and users that the information is correct when results do not appear to agree with the clinical presentation investigating and problem solving situations as required processing routine and urgent work to maintain agreed turn around times managing the day-to-day routine work in specialised services running protocol based assessments on all methodologies, to include calibration and quality control testing maintaining complex specialist equipment, assessing and ensuring its fitness for clinical use the effective and efficient use of expensive tests and high value equipment identifying faults in equipment and analyser function after formal in-house training following policies in specialised areas and proposing changes that will improve and develop the service for other clinicians and patients assisting in the development and maintenance of standards as required teaching and assessing practical skills and supporting the training and development of junior staff. They will have the competences to perform complex manual tests to a high degree of accuracy and precision and to undertake interpretative technical tests as appropriate. They must have the ability to pay close attention to detail and work alone and within a team. They must have the skills to prioritise work through good time management and organisational skills, with the ability to achieve demanding tasks and objectives against deadlines. HCSPs must be able to lead and support the development of technical Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) and have excellent oral and written communication skills. 3
The Level 6 HCS Practitioner Apprenticeship will be a minimum of 4 years, in order to achieve the underpinning BSc (Hons) in HCS or BMS and associated work-based competences, at least 20% of which will be off-the-job training in order to achieve the BSc and the required competences of a HCSP. Graduates from the PTP programmes will be qualified HCS Practitioners (in the Life Sciences, they will be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council [HCPC] as Biomedical Scientists), and will therefore be eligible for professional registration as follows: Life Science PTP graduates will be eligible both for statutory regulation with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as biomedical scientists and for Professional Standards Authority (PSA) Accredited Registration via the AHCS. Physiological and Physical Science PTP graduates will be eligible for Professional Standards Authority (PSA) Accredited Registration via the AHCS. These standards were developed to be consistent with the requirements that Healthcare Science practitioner currently regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council have to meet. We are committed to ensuring that the Level 5 and 6 Apprenticeship standards both provide sufficiently transferable skills to enable a successful apprentice to perform these roles in an employer of any size and in any relevant sector. We are collectively representative of our sector and are willing to work with other employers who come forward with an interest in this occupation, with colleagues from other sectors where our standards are closely related and with the AHCS for HCS which sets the professional standards of practice for HCS. We will develop the apprenticeship standard and assessment plan in line with the latest edition of the Guidance for Trailblazers from standards to starts, December 2015, will aim to complete this process within a year and will ensure that the resulting standard represents good value for money for the end-users. We have reviewed the standards that have already been developed and those in development and are satisfied that there is no duplication with our bid, since the Standards we are proposing focus on the relevant application of healthcare science to the needs of patients and healthcare services. As the professional leader of the NHS Healthcare Science workforce for NHS England and Health Education England and 4
the employers listed below which support this bid, we fully intend to make use of the standard once it is ready for delivery. Projected annual starts for the standard we are bidding to develop by each group member are detailed in the table overleaf. In addition, please note: We are working with the AHCS, which sets the professional standards for this sector. As employers, we have invited representatives from the National School of HCS and scientific professional bodies to play a supporting role to the Trailblazer. We have invited representatives from training providers to play a supporting role to the Trailblazer. Assuming the development process runs smoothly, we envisage the resulting apprenticeship being ready to deliver starts from September 2017 with an annual take-up of approximately 120 at Level 5 and 400 at Level 6. We envisage most Trailblazer meetings taking place in London, although much of the work will be undertaken virtually. If the standard is selected for development at this stage: As the CSO, I am happy to be publically named as the Lead Professional for the HCS workforce and the employers listed below are happy to be named as working with me to deliver these standards. I am content for Professor Shelley Heard (sheard49@gmail.com) to be used on the gov.uk website as the contact point for enquiries in relation to the Trailblazer; and I commit the Group to working with relevant sector organisations to promote the use of the resulting standard once it is ready for delivery. Yours sincerely, Professor Sue Hill OBE PhD DSc CBiol FSB Hon FRCP Hon FRCPath NHS Chief Scientific Officer for England 5