DIAGNOSTIC WORKFORCE

NHS England and Improvement has set up a national Diagnostics Programme Board to coordinate implementation of the Richards’ report (Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal – Report of the Independent Review of Diagnostic Services for NHS England) in response to the NHS Long Term Plan.

The approved level 6 training pathway in Healthcare Science is via the Practitioner Training Programme (PTP). PTP is a full-time, 3-year, undergraduate degree incorporating placements in departments to enable work-place training allowing students to develop the necessary skills and experience to work as a Healthcare Science Practitioner on graduation. Uptake of the PTP is sub-optimal and in practice many departments take on graduates of other disciplines and train them in-house in the skills they need; the trainee then would need to apply for equivalence to become voluntary registered as a Practitioner. This programme provides a formalised approach to this. The Post Graduate Certificate in Sleep Medicine is a