A Framework for Accredited Scientific
Practice (ASP) in Healthcare Science:
A Strategic Approach to Continuing
Personal and Professional
Development
Prepared for: Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific
Officer
Prepared by: Professor Shelley Heard, Ian Clarke,
Susan Kennedy
February 2015
1
Contents
1. Foreword .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Background and context ........................................................................................................................................... 4
3. Rationale for Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP)........................................................................................ 5
4. The Framework.............................................................................................................................................................. 6
5. Purpose and principles underlying this framework ......................................................................................7
6. Governance arrangements....................................................................................................................................... 8
7. Education and training components of ASP programmes ........................................................................8
8. Education and training standards......................................................................................................................... 9
9. The ASP educational structure .............................................................................................................................. 9
10.
Outcomes ................................................................................................................................................................. 10
11.
Implementation ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
12.
Summary .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Appendix 2: Case studies ............................................................................................................................................... 13
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1. Foreword
Modernising Scientific Careers: The UK Way Forward (2010) set out the policy to reform the
healthcare science workforce for the benefit of patients, the service and individuals undertaking a
career in healthcare science. It defined a new training and career framework for Assistants and
Associates, Healthcare Science Practitioners (Practitioner Training Programme [PTP], Clinical
Scientists (Specialist Training Programme [STP]) and Consultant Clinical Scientists (Higher
Specialist Scientist Training [HSST]) in healthcare science, all supported by patient driven and
quality assured work-based and academic training programmes. These are now well established
and embedded within the service and universities and provide mainstream education and training
programmes for Health Education England.
This document presents a further important contribution to the healthcare science career
framework. Focused on continuous personal and professional development (CPPD) and
supporting service and role-based requirements, the Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP)
programme is an innovative approach to providing focused, quality assured and accredited CPPD.
It will ensure that employers can develop the healthcare science workforce that is required to keep
pace with scientific and technological advances. ASP will also support the attainment of specific
techniques and specialist skills that will progress and enhance healthcare services and patient
care whilst ensuring that there are no glass ceilings to career progression and development within
the healthcare science workforce.
The Framework for Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP) in Healthcare Science: A Strategic
Approach to Continuing Personal and Professional Development and its companion document
Accredited Scientific Practice Development and Implementation Guidance describe the
arrangements for ASP and provide practical guidance for the service, professional bodies, and
universities to support the establishment of employer-led programmes, supported by the National
School of Healthcare and the Academy for Healthcare Science.
The burgeoning of genomics and precision medicine means that never before has there been
such a need to ensure that the healthcare science workforce is fit for purpose and able to meet the
scientific challenges ahead. The ASP programme will support patient focussed “just in time”
training, ensuring that patients receive the benefits of cutting edge science.
My acknowledgement and thanks to the MSC Development Team for this forward looking and
comprehensive contribution to the Modernising Scientific Careers framework.
Professor Sue Hill, OBE
Chief Scientific Officer
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2. Background and context
2.1. The healthcare science (HCS) workforce plays a central role in safe and effective patient
care across all pathways, from health and wellbeing to end of life. There are approximately
55,000 employees in the HCS workforce in the NHS, and approximately 80% of all
diagnoses can be attributed to their work.
2.2. Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) is a UK-wide programme led by the Chief Scientific
Officer (CSO) for England, Professor Sue Hill, working in conjunction with the health
administrations of the other UK countries. It has developed a transparent, standards-driven
education and training framework for more than 45 specialisms in healthcare science.
2.3. The MSC Career Framework has four distinct levels supported by four training
programmes.
•
•
•
•
Assistant and Associate Training Programme (AATP): designed for the HCS Career
Framework 2–4 workforce; sets out a programme of training and development
opportunities, including new apprenticeships and foundation degrees; assistants and
associates are likely to be included on directories (or potentially registers) that will be
held by the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS).
Practitioner Training Programme (PTP): normally comprises a three-year full-time
honours bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Science, which integrates academic and
work-based learning; in the Life Sciences, biomedical scientists will be regulated
through the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), while healthcare science
practitioners (HCSPs) in other specialisms will be registered on the AHCS Professional
Standards Authority (PSA) Accredited Register.
Scientist Training Programme (STP): a three-year pre-registration postgraduate
academic and work-based programme combining an underpinning part-time master’s
degree in Clinical Science and commencing with a rotational training programme in a
themed group of up to four healthcare science specialisms, followed by training in a
defined specialism. Successful completion of both elements of the STP leads to the
award of a Certificate of Completion of the STP (CCSTP) by the National School of
Healthcare Science (NSHCS). Holders of the CCSTP are then eligible to apply to the
AHCS for a Certificate of Attainment; that in turn confers eligibility to apply to the HCPC
for registration as a Clinical Scientist.
Higher Specialist Scientist Training Programme (HSST): a five-year work-based
programme supported by an underpinning part-time doctoral-level training programme.
HSST curriculum development groups composed of senior scientists and doctors have
been led and facilitated by medical royal colleges. Successful completion of the workbased and academic components will lead to award of a Certificate of Completion from
the NSHCS with subsequent registration on a Higher Specialist Scientist register held
by the AHCS.
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3. Rationale for Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP)
3.1. Scientific and technological developments in health are developing at a fast-moving,
almost exponential rate, requiring the HCS workforce to learn, adapt and implement
change throughout their working lives. This workforce will therefore require a different and
dedicated approach to their ongoing professional and scientific technical development,
which must be sustainable and quality assured.
3.2. The recent publication of The Delivery of 21st Century Services – The Implications for the
Evolution of the Healthcare Science Workforce (February 2014) by Health Education
England (HEE) highlights the way in which new technology and innovation, the increasing
emphasis on the quality of patient care, quality assurance of diagnostic procedures, the
drive to relocate services into primary care and the community, and the broader range of
providers will all have major implications for the education and training of the HCS
workforce.
3.3. The even more recent and major policy document Five Year Forward View (October 2014)
makes clear that “the NHS needs to adapt to take advantage of the opportunities that
science and technology offer patients, carers and those who serve them”.
3.4. To date, continuing personal and professional development (CPPD) for the HCS workforce
has been largely ad hoc and has often confused CPPD and ongoing formal training
requirements, e.g. in commissioning new equipment. The majority of additional education
has been through education, training and assessment programmes offered by professional
bodies and higher education institutions (HEIs). Leadership training has been available at
local and national level via specific HCS initiatives, e.g. the CSO Leadership programme
and programmes offered by the NHS Leadership Academy. In addition, the CSO Research
Fellowship Scheme offers research training and research fellowships that contributed to
the CPPD of the HCS workforce. Attending professional updates and learning specific
skills while ‘on the job’ have to date been acceptable forms of career development and are
still likely to have a role to play in the future.
3.5. However, in the face of the demanding nature and patient-focused technical and specialist
services that the science workforce delivers, it is essential that all training and education –
particularly technical and service-based training – is employer driven, reflects patient need,
is quality assured, accredited and where possible leads to entry on to a relevant register or
directory. Since many current professional development opportunities occur in isolation
from their underpinning knowledge and work-base, meaningful and rigorous assessment,
which is the essential cornerstone to provide assurance that the necessary standards have
been met, has been difficult to provide.
3.6. There is therefore a need to ensure that a more focused, structured and service-oriented
approach to formal training requirements and CPPD is developed, which arises from,
complements and supports the MSC Career Framework and the requirements of patients,
service providers and the NHS. Set within the context of the UK MSC programme and
based on its education and training principles of patient-centred care and learning, quality
assured curriculum, clear learning outcomes, robust assessment and external scrutiny, an
approach to the CPPD and ongoing training of those in the HCS workforce has been
developed.
3.7. The Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP) programme provides the opportunity to regularise
the approach and develop a formalised model of structured CPPD in healthcare science,
driven by the service and employers. It provides a transparent education and training
CPPD framework linked to academic qualifications and quality assured work-based
training, providing employers and the public with a level of assurance and confidence in
the HCS service.
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4. The Framework
4.1.
As described above, the MSC Career Framework is designed so that there are entry
routes into each of the four levels of the HCS workforce. Successful completion of the
requisite education and training programme provides the initial qualifications for that level.
However, employers will require those in the HCS workforce to develop new knowledge
and technical skills – many of which will be task oriented – in order to address the
introduction of new scientific and technological developments and to support significant
service development and change. Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP) – an innovative and
well-defined programme of professional development – will:
•
•
•
address the fast pace of change in science and technology by ensuring that new and
required technical, specialist and expert skills (beyond those acquired through the
formal MSC programmes) are provided through focused and quality assured workbased and academic programmes;
address specific workforce, service and patient needs;
support the appropriate and focused continuous learning and development of the HCS
workforce.
Figure 1: ASP Framework
Academy for
Healthcare Science (ACHS)
Partnerships involving:
Employers, professional bodies,
HEIs, HEE, LETBs, others
HEE HCS Implementation
Network Group’s (HCS ING);
Education and Training Strategy
Group (ETSG)
Accreditation
National School of
Healthcare Science (NSHCS)
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4.2. ASP addresses these issues by providing a structured, comprehensive, accredited postqualification education and training approach to CPPD in healthcare science. The flexible
scientific workforce of the future requires:
•
•
•
access to training that can be delivered quickly and over as short a time frame as
possible;
investment in CPPD to develop and maintain competence in a fast-changing
technological, scientific and service environment;
modular, rapid turnaround development programmes that will ensure the workforce is
able to adapt the application of its skills and knowledge effectively and efficiently to
deliver the service and care required.
4.3. ASP provides the solution to these requirements as described in this strategic document,
although in order to meet some urgent workforce needs early, programmes have already
been developed and are being assessed (Appendix 2).
5. Purpose and principles underlying this framework
5.1. The ASP Framework has three main purposes, which are to ensure that:
•
•
•
patient safety and patient outcomes are optimised efficiently and effectively;
employers can develop the workforce they require through a streamlined process that is
cost-effective and provides quality assured training and assessment programmes, the
outcomes of which are documented and transferrable;
those individuals who work in healthcare science have opportunities to advance
professionally and in line with scientific and technological advances so that patient and
service needs can be met in an efficient, timely and quality assured manner.
5.2. The framework has been developed using the following principles:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1
workforce, service and patient needs will determine ASP programme development;
ASP is an integral element of the MSC Career and Training Pathway (Appendix 1);
as such, all ASP programmes must have their basis in an already existing MSC
curriculum, using one or more of the modules to form the basis of the ASP programme,
which can be extended and further developed in order to address workforce
requirements;
all ASP programmes will have two integrated education and training components –
formal academic and work-based learning – with clear learning outcomes and against
which participants will be assessed;
since the AHCS is responsible for the overall quality assurance of training in HCS, ASP
programmes must be developed within the context of the AHCS’s Curriculum
Development Standards and Standards of Education and Training for MSC Academic
Programmes 1, and comply with these standards;
this is a permissive framework, enabling partnerships of providers or group of providers
(e.g. Public Health England [PHE], National Blood and Transplant [NHSBT], employers,
professional bodies and others) to work together to develop ASP programmes that
demonstrate that the AHCS educational and training standards have been met, by
developing a curriculum based on modules from a related and relevant MSC
curriculum, an assessment programme that is coherent with the assessment approach
of the NSHCS and a learning portfolio to support the programme;
HEE’s Healthcare Science Implementation Network Group’s (HCS ING) Education and
Training Scrutiny Group (ETSG) will review and make recommendations to the HCS
The AHCS has developed curriculum standards which can be seen at http://www.ahcs.ac.uk
7
•
•
•
ING concerning the proposed curriculum in order to provide overall external educational
scrutiny;
the NSHCS will accredit all work-based and academic programmes;
the AHCS will maintain a directory or register of those who successfully complete an
ASP programme, noting the specialism and level;
ASP programmes are part of CPPD and therefore, at the current time, normally the cost
of these programmes will rest with the employer who has responsibility for the ongoing
professional development of its workforce.
6. Governance arrangements
6.1. The overall governance of MSC programmes sits with HEE’s HCS ING, which will
therefore need to confirm its support for an ASP development based on a clear local or
national workforce need.
6.2. Educational governance: HCS ING’s ETSG will make recommendations to HCS ING in
relation to the educational appropriateness of a proposed programme within the context of
the overall MSC strategic approach to education and training.
7. Education and training components of ASP programmes
7.1. The intention of developing a structured approach to CPPD for the HCS workforce is to
ensure responsiveness, flexibility and transferability to help improve patient safety and
outcomes. Based on the principles described above, the process for proposing,
developing, accrediting and quality assuring new ASP programmes is dependent on linking
the proposed programme to the relevant MSC curriculum at the appropriate level of
development.
7.2. All ASP programmes will have two components – academic learning and work-based
learning, as shown in diagram 2 below.
Diagram 2: Structure of ASP programmes
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8. Education and training standards
8.1. All ASP programmes will conform to the Curriculum Development Standards and the
Standards of Education and Training for MSC Academic Programmes set out by the
AHCS. 2 This will enable a range of providers (e.g. professional bodies, medical royal
colleges, employers [working with patients]) to develop programmes while providing a
quality assured framework for delivery.
8.2. The education and training standards will enable the development of ASP programmes by
using already developed elements of MSC training programmes. These can be expanded
or adjusted to meet particular workforce requirements at the appropriate level. They will
then need to be reviewed by the ETSG, with final approval from the HCS ING.
8.3. ASP programmes will only be developed through and with the engagement of employers,
professional bodies and HEIs. This will mean that workforce development is driven by
service and patient needs.
9. The ASP educational structure
9.1. The ASP educational structure (diagram 3) will operate at all points of the MSC Training
and Career Framework as shown below.
Diagram 3: Educational structure of Accredited Scientific Practice programmes
2
http://www.ahcs.ac.uk
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9.2. The number of academic credits will determine the level of academic award a programme
receives from a university or that the university has deemed a professional body
programme meets. This could be at undergraduate or postgraduate certificate/diploma
level. Academic credits will help to ensure the programme is portable.
9.3. The levels at which ASP programmes will be offered are:
•
•
•
Accredited Additional Scientific Practice (AASP) (delivered at bachelor’s level)
Accredited Specialist Scientific Practice (ASSP) (delivered at master’s level)
Accredited Expert Scientific Practice (AESP) (delivered at doctoral level).
9.4. Diagram 3 indicates the minimum entry requirement, the academic delivery level and the
proposed outcome for each programme. Crucially, an individual undertaking an ASP
programme must demonstrate that they meet the minimum entry requirement for that level
of ASP programme. For example, in order to undertake an Accredited Expert Scientific
Practice (AESP) programme at master’s level, the individual must be a registered Clinical
Scientist, having either been a graduate of the Scientist Training Programme (STP) or
obtained equivalence to it. Similarly in order to undertake an ASSP programme at master’s
level, the individual must be on the accredited register of the AHCS or HCPC registered as
a Biomedical Scientist or Clinical Scientist. Such an approach ensures that at each level
individuals undertaking the ASP programme have the necessary core basic scientific
underpinning in that area of healthcare science at the appropriate academic and practice
level. It is also anticipated that there will be the opportunity to recognise previous training,
experience and qualifications in defined areas through an equivalence process. Examples
and case studies of ASP programmes at the various levels are shown in Appendix 2.
10.
Outcomes
10.1.
Academic awards will be appropriate to the academic learning undertaken.
Individuals, who have successfully completed a prescribed ASP programme, including its
work-based and academic components, will be issued with a Certificate of Completion of
ASP by the NSHCS, entitling them to apply to the AHCS for inclusion on its Accredited
Scientific Practice (ASP) register.
10.2.
•
•
•
11.
The ASP directory or register will:
reassure employers and the public of the level of practice achieved;
enable employers to identify those individuals who have gained the skills and
competences to undertake practice in identified areas of Accredited Scientific Practice;
encourage transferability and flexibility for the workforce.
Implementation
11.1. A Development and Implementation Guide to Accredited Scientific Practice is currently
being drafted. It will help support employers, professional bodies and HEIs to develop
ASP programmes in a standardised format and in accordance with MSC educational
principles.
11.2. The flow diagram below (diagram 4) summarises the way in which curricula and
programme development will take place, and be approved and quality assured. This will
be further described in the Development and Implementation Guide for Accredited
Scientific Practice.
12. Summary
10
12.1. This document sets out the proposed framework for the development of an innovative
and coherent programme of CPPD for the HCS workforce. It is based on standards
against which educational and training programmes are assessed.
12.2. This novel and flexible approach to programme development supports extensive
partnership working, enabling providers, professional bodies, HEIs and others to work
together to develop programmes to meet service and patient needs, while maintaining
high standards of delivery and quality assurance.
Diagram 4: Summary of implementation flow chart
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Appendix 1
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Appendix 2: Case studies
Case study 1: A trainee exits the Practitioner Training Programme qualifying in Cellular Science.
A service need for additional skills in Reproductive Science requires the practitioner to undertake
accredited specialist modules in Andrology at undergraduate level. On presentation of their
academic credit and their certificate of completion of assessment of work-based competencies,
the AHCS will confer the status of Accredited Additional Scientific Practice (AASP).
Case study 2: A trainee exits the Practitioner Training Programme qualifying in Neurophysiology.
There is a service requirement for the practitioner to acquire skills in Paediatric Neurophysiology.
They undertake an approved academic content at master’s level and a paediatric caseload with
competencies assessed using the MSC assessment methods and recorded on the On-line
Assessment Tool (OLAT). On presentation of their academic credit plus their certificate of
completion of work-based learning, the AHCS will confer the status of Accredited Specialist
Scientific Practice (ASSP).
Case study 3: A trainee exits the Scientist Training Programme as a Clinical Scientist qualifying in
Cellular Science (Histopathology). A service need for skills in Prognostic Biomarkers requires the
scientist to undertake an approved content in this topic at doctoral level and its associated
assessment of work-based competencies using the MSC assessment methods and recorded on
the OLAT. On presentation of their academic credit plus their certificate of completion of
assessment of work-based competencies, the AHCS will confer the status of Accredited Expert
Scientific Practice (AESP).
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