Scottish Government Health Department engagement with proposed 'Modernising Science Careers' (MSC). 4 Nation policy group.
Outline position in Scotlandas at Jan 23rd 2008.
- The Scottish Government fully supports the desire to improve the visibility, recognition and identity of healthcare scientists in delivering key objectives for the NHS. For that reason it developed an action plan, Safe Accurate and Effective (2007).
- In the light of Safe Accurate and Effective, the Scottish Government's education priorities for healthcare science (HCS) are: the establishment of a NHS Education for Scotland healthcare science workstream; the provision for education and training of clinical physiology and clinical technology staff; higher specialist training, initially for clinical scientists but probably wider; and improvements to HCS leadership skills.
- The Department of Health proposal 'modernising healthcare science careers' present interesting mutual opportunities for the development of healthcare science staff. The Scottish Government is therefore engaging with UK policy partners in exploring the merits of this proposal by participation in the strategic board arrangements discussed by 4-nations partners.
- The Scottish Government would wish to explore much further the patient benefits, necessity, affordability and impact on regulation criteria for healthcare science staff that MSC may bring.
- The Scottish Government intends consulting with healthcare scientists and other stakeholders in Scotland on the implementation of Safe Accurate and Effective and will include in these engagements discussion on the merits and risks of MSC.
- The Scottish Government observes within the MSC proposals a new linkage between - regulation of different types of healthcare science staff for public protection and - universal higher levels of postgraduate training for 'registration' as a healthcare scientist practitioner, as proposed by MSC. Further debate on this issue will take place in the context of strategic board arrangements.
- The Scottish Government supports the concept of work-based training for healthcare scientists, but would wish to explore: the applicability and the proposed duration of rotational training; the resource implications of such training; the attractiveness of such a scheme for new entrants in the context of workforce supply.
- The Chief Health Professions Officer and team will work in partnership with the Scottish Forum for Healthcare Science and other key stakeholders to explore fully the implications of MSC proposals in the Scottish context.