NES NHS Life Sciences: Healthcare Science (HCS) Support Worker (SW) and Assistant Practitioner (AP) education and training group. SUMMARY Remit of NES NHS Life Sciences The NES NHS Life Sciences: Healthcare Science (HCS) Support Worker (SW) and Assistant Practitioner (AP) Education and Training (E&T) Group ( NES NHS Life Sciences group ) was a short life working group set up provide a national focus for the educational development for HCS SW and AP staff working in Life Science disciplines in NHS Scotland, as underpinned by Scottish 1 and UK 2 Healthcare Science policy. The membership of the group is outlined in Appendix 1. The work of the group was underpinned by Healthcare Science Support Workers and Assistant Practitioners: A survey of NHS Life Science partners, the executive summary of which is outlined in Appendix 2. Duration of NES NHS Life Sciences NES NHS Life Sciences met five times between September 2010 and June 2011. The agenda and notes of the meetings can be found in the archive section of the NES Healthcare Science web-pages. Outputs of NES NHS Life Sciences A nationally evaluated Healthcare Science (HCS) Assistant Practitioner (AP) national job description was produced by NES NHS Life Sciences and is available for all NHS Board partners to use Representation on Scotland s Colleges Science consortium via the NHS subgroup Recommendations from NES NHS Life Sciences Improved joined up thinking and workforce planning activity between Life Science service leads, general management and workforce planners to ensure a fit for purpose Life Sciences workforce for the future 1 The Scottish Government. Safe, Accurate and Effective: An Action Plan for Healthcare Science in NHS Scotland. Edinburgh: The Scottish Government, 2007. 2 UK Health Departments. Modernising Scientific Careers: The UK Way Forward. London: The Department of Health, 2010
on going support from NES Healthcare Science to enable educational solutions that support excellence in healthcare for Healthcare Science Support Workers and Assistant Practitioners in the Life Sciences consistency and clarity of funding of Modern Apprenticeships in the NHS
Appendix 1 NHS Life Sciences: Healthcare Science Support Worker and Assistant Practitioner Education and Training Group Membership as at 6 th September 2010 NHS Board Name Contact details NHS Ayrshire and Arran Debbi Hyslop debbi.hyslop@aaaht.scot.nhs.uk NHS Borders no representative NHS Dumfries and Galloway John Toher john.toher@nhs.net NHS Education for Scotland Dr Amanda McKie (Chair) amanda.mckie@nes.scot.nhs.uk NHS Fife Liz Woodhead ewoodhead@nhs.net NHS Forth Valley Graeme Inglis graeme.inglis@nhs.net NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Jackie Wales (HCS Educational Development Lead) Steve Harrower and David Cameron also represent NHS GGC jackie.wales@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
NHS Board Name Contact details NHS Grampian Paul Drew paul.drew@nhs.net NHS Highland George Fairweather george.fairweather@nhs.net NHS Lanarkshire Betty Kyle betty.kyle@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk NHS Lothian Sarah Smith ssmith41@nhs.net NHS National Services Scotland (SNBTS) NHS Tayside NHS Western Isles (point of contact for NHS Orkney and Shetland) Diane Anderson Gordon Milne replaced by Jean Bell for 270611 meeting Ian Gilbert diane.anderson3@nhs.net gordon.milne@nhs.net jbell@nhs.net iangilbert@nhs.net Institute of Biomedical Science Alan Wainwright alanwainwright@ibms.org
Appendix 2 Healthcare Science (HCS) Support Workers (SW) and Assistant Practitioners (AP): A survey of NHS Life Science partners Amanda McKie 3 * August 2010 3 Research and Development Officer Healthcare Science, Central Offices, NHS Education for Scotland *Address for correspondence: Dr Amanda McKie, Ground Floor, ONE Clifton Place, GLASGOW, G3 7LD. 0141 352 2928, amanda.mckie@nes.scot.nhs.uk.
Executive Summary A survey of laboratory managers / training leads has been conducted to establish an evidence base of and for educational developments for Healthcare Science (HCS) Support Workers (SW) and Assistant Practitioners (AP) working in the Life Sciences in NHS Scotland. The survey was designed to gather information and views on a number of areas relevant to Support Worker and Assistant Practitioner education and training. There was a 87% response rate to the survey, with information and views being gathered from all NHS territorial Boards with the exception of NHS Borders, NHS Highland and NHS Tayside. Analysis of the survey data revealed the following: Support Worker and Senior Support Worker roles as described by NHS Career Framework (CF) levels 2 and 3 respectively, are covered by a number of job titles. Medical Laboratory Assistant (MLA) and Biomedical Support Worker are common to both of these NHS career framework descriptors Assistant Practitioners as described by NHS Career Framework level 4 are also known as Associate Practitioners Over three quarters (76%) of survey respondents indicated they have no job description for the Assistant Practitioner role Over half (55%) of survey respondents indicated they anticipate the number of staff working at NHS Career Framework levels 2-4 will increase in the next 5 years. The number Support Worker and Senior Support Worker staff currently working towards an accredited qualification is very low compared to the total (6% of WTE posts in a number of selected NHS Boards) Over 75% of survey respondents indicated that their NHS Board doesn t have or they don t know if their NHS Board has a HCS Workforce Plan Most of the current learning of Support and Senior Support Workers is taking place in the workplace and is associated with the Life Sciences Modern Apprenticeship frameworks at levels 2 and 3 More than 90% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that future formal education and training for Support and Senior Support Workers would be more appropriately delivered in the workplace, when compared to day release at College Almost two thirds of survey respondents indicated that Support and Senior Support Worker education and training could be delivered by e-learning / distance learning
Over 75% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that future education and training for Assistant Practitioners could be delivered in the workplace, at College or by e-learning / distance. Almost half of respondents (48%) indicated a preference for educational provision by Colleges to be in a twilight session format Education provision by Colleges for Support Staff and Assistant Practitioners was more likely to cover underpinning knowledge rather than practical skills.