There are many opportunities to undertake roles in Healthcare Science for the NHS or Social Care in mid and south Essex.
Healthcare Science supports diagnosis and treatment of patients, providing the scientific backbone to healthcare. 80% of all diagnoses are provided by healthcare scientists and there are over 50 different specialisms available to work in.
Depending on your skills and interests, you could work in one of the following areas:
Laboratory (pathology) sciences include the following specialisms:
Tissue banking
Analytical Toxicology
Anatomical pathology
Blood transfusion science/transplantation
Clinical biochemistry including paediatric metabolic biochemistry
Clinical genetics/Genetic Science
Clinical embryology and Reproductive Science
Clinical immunology
Cytopathology including cervical cytology
Electron microscopy
External quality assurance
Haematology
Haemostasis and thrombosis
Clinical Immunology
Histocompatibility and immunogenetics
Histopathology
Microbiology
Molecular pathology of acquired disease
Phlebotomy
Physiological sciences include the following specialisms:
Vascular science
Audiology
Autonomic neurovascular function
Cardiac physiology
Clinical exercise physiologist
Clinical perfusion science
Critical care science
Gastrointestinal physiology
Neurophysiology
Ophthalmic and vision science
Respiratory physiology
Urodynamic science
Medical physics and clinical engineering include the following specialisms:
Ultrasound and non-ionising radiation
Biomechanical engineering
Clinical measurement and development
Clinical Pharmaceutical Science
Diagnostic radiology and MR physics
Equipment management and clinical engineering
Medical electronics and instrumentation
Medical engineering design
Clinical photography
Nuclear medicine
Radiation protection and monitoring
Radiotherapy physics
Reconstructive Science
Rehabilitation engineering
Renal dialysis technology
Bioinformatics include the following specialisms:
Specialist Health Informatics and analysis
Clinical Bioinformatics and Genomics
Computer science and modelling
To be employed in any healthcare science role you will need to demonstrate a good standard of literacy and numeracy and for some roles, employers will ask for GCSE’s or equivalent in maths and English. Digital skills and qualifications are also highly sought after as many NHS and Social Care settings rely on IT based systems to manage their databases and patient information.
Working for the NHS or for Social Care in Mid and South Essex provides many opportunities to develop your skills further and there are a wide range of apprenticeships, in-house training and continuing professional development opportunities available that you can use to build your career.
There are also opportunities to develop your career in healthcare science by taking on additional responsibility and you could become a team leader, supervisor or a manager.
Healthcare science roles tend to not have lots of face to face contact with patients and depending on your role, you could be based away from patient areas in laboratory areas or specialist facilities off site, focused on your work. Some healthcare science careers do have patient contact and you could be providing support and advice on test results, suggested diagnoses or advising clinical staff on changes needed to treatment routines based on tests conducted.
