February 2014 edition of Vox – The AHCS newsletter is now available
The February 2014 edition of Vox – The membership newsletter of the Academy for Healthcare Science is now available
Tell us your key issues in Healthcare Science
As part of our role as the single overarching body for Healthcare Science, we are pulling together a briefing for policy-makers and opinion-formers about the key issues facing the profession at the moment.
We want to hear from you as to what you think the three single biggest issues facing Healthcare Science at the moment are. We will then pull these together into an anonymised report. We will use to inform our influencing activity and ensure the voice of the profession is heard at the highest level.
Have your say by taking part in the survey at www.ahcs.ac.uk/3issues14. Please share this link with your colleagues and encourage them to give us their views too.
First in-service Scientist registered with HCPC following Academy’s Equivalence Process.
Brian Campbell, a cardiac scientist working at Guy’s & St Thomas’ hospitals in London has become the first in-service Clinical Scientist to become registered with the Health and Care Professions Council after successfully completing the Academy for Healthcare Science’s Equivalence assessment. He is joined on the Register by Joanna Shakespeare and Lynne Smith, who went through the Equivalence assessment at the same time.
The AHCS is still assessing the level of demand for Equivalence at Clinical Scientist (STP) level. If you haven’t filled in our Expression of Interest form yet, please go to www.ahcs.ac.uk/equivalenceEOI.
Presentations and photos from the AHCS Practitioner Register consultation event
The Academy held a lively an informative consultation event as part of its three-month public consultation into the proposed Standards for the Academy Register of Healthcare Science Practitioners.
More than 60 people attended the event in London and provided a range of rich information which we are feeding into the Standards development process. Presentations and pictures from the event are available from the AHCS website.
The consultation closes at 5pm on Friday 28 February. We will then analyse all the responses we have received and a report detailing this analysis and setting out the way forward will be published on the AHCS website shortly.
Join the Academy’s Trainee and New Professionals Group
The Academy for Healthcare Science is bringing together a group of those people currently undergoing Healthcare Science training programmes and in the early years of their professional careers to help shape the future of the profession and set out the issues for this part of the workforce.
If you want to join the group, please email your details to ">.
Recognising Healthcare Science through the Honours system
The Honours System is the way that the country recognises the tremendous work done by individuals in public service across the UK. The Academy for Healthcare Science is working to ensure the proper recognition of the importance of Healthcare Science to the NHS and the nation’s health.
The Department of Health has announced that it is seeking nominations for suitable candidates from the health and care system for the New Year Honours 2015.
If you know of a individual who should be recognised in this way, please contact the AHCS by emailing as we are looking to coordinate entries from across Healthcare Science and ensure that they are as successful as possible.
Closing date for nomination forms is 31 March 2014. Nominations for women and people from Black and Minority Ethnic groups and are particularly welcomed as they are currently under-represented in the system.
From around Healthcare Science
First HSST curricula published
The first curricula for the Higher Specialist Scientific Training programme have been published by the Modernising Scientific Careers team of Health Education England.
The curricula for Cardiac Science,Gastrointestinal and Urological Sciences, Respiratory and Sleep Physiology and Clinical Biomedical Engineering are available through the MSC Curricula NHS Network , ready for courses to start in 2014/15.
Get involved in National Healthcare Science week 2014 – 13-23 March
Healthcare Scientists and teams from across the country are using Healthcare Science Week 2014 (13-23 March) to showcase their work and enthuse the public, particularly the young people who will be the next generation of Healthcare Scientists.
NHS Careers have produced a range of support material to help people to get involved in National Healthcare Science Week from suggested activities, a toolkit for use in schools & colleges and draft press releases to send to your local media.
As part of National Healthcare Science week, the AHCS will be taking part in the national Big Bang Science Fair, held at the Birmingham NEC from 13-16 March.
Future shape of Healthcare Science workshop set out in HEE report .
A report predicting how the Healthcare Science workforce will evolve over the next 20 years and how it will look by 2030 has been published by HEE. The need to constantly improve the quality of patient care within the context of a challenging economic environment is the central theme of this report. It explores the implications for the scientific workforce from the perspective of a patient centred workforce.
European Commission publishes Medical Physics Expert
The European Commission has published its guidelines on the Medical Physics Expert (MPE) – a specific medical physics role for the radiation protection of patients which is set out in European legislation. The guidance sets out the role of the MPE in a clinical environment, their qualification framework, recognition arrangements and appropriate staffing levels. The guidelines have been set out with significant input from the medical physics community in the UK, particularly through IPEM.
Registration details and programme now available for #LTO14 – the CSO Leadership Event, 31 March & 1 April
Booking is now open for the #LTO14 (Healthcare Scientists Leading and Transforming Outcomes) – the major Healthcare Leadership event organised by the Chief Scientific Officer on behalf of NHS England. The event brings together Organisational Lead Scientists and the wider Healthcare Science leadership community and will hear from speakers such as NHS Medical Director Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England Director of Strategy Prof Robert Harris and Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support Ciaran Devane.
The full programme is also available from the NHS England website.
Put forward the best in the profession for the 2014 Healthcare Science Awards
The Chief Scientific Officer Professor Sue Hill OBE will be hosting the 2014 Healthcare Science Awards as part of the #LTO14 conference.
Nominations are being sought for the five awards categories – Healthcare Scientist of the year; Healthcare Scientist ambassador; Rising star; Patient involvement and Service Innovator.
All you need to do to nominate someone is explain in approximately 200 words how your candidate fits your chosen category. Nominations should be emailed to michelle.spencer-williams@nhs.net by the closing date of 14 March.
Learn more about being a media spokesperson for Healthcare Science with free Sense about Science workshop
Sense About Science will be holding a Standing up for Science media workshop at the University of Manchester on Friday 14 March providing practical tips and guidance about dealing with the media together with a discussion about science controversies with the public. This full day event is free and for early career researchers in all sciences, engineering and medicine (PhD students, post-docs or equivalent in first job).
International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day 2014
International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day 2014 will be held on 15 April 2014 – this year’s theme will be Ethics. More details of the event, including a downloadable poster, are available through the IBMS website.
Get your colleagues to sign up to Vox – and share your own news
If you have a colleague who would like to have this newsletter emailed to them as soon as it comes out, please get them to sign up via the AHCS website or by going to http://bit.ly/AHCSvox
If you want to read previous editions of Vox, then they are all available via the AHCS website at www.ahcs.ac.uk/news/vox-the-ahcs-newsletter/
If you have news that we can help to share across the Healthcare Science profession, please do send details to
