ADVANCED PRACTICE
Accessing advanced practice as a biomedical scientist
Informed by the results of a recent mixed- methods study, Aimee Pinnington considers the barriers and opportunities for biomedical scientists looking to further their career with advanced practice, and the implications for workforce development in the profession.
Advanced practice is increasingly recognised as a key component of the future pathology workforce.1-3 As diagnostic services expand in response to rising clinical demand, workforce pressures, and technological advancement, biomedical scientists are undertaking increasingly complex and clinically focused roles.2,4
Advanced
practice provides a structured pathway for experienced practitioners to extend their scope of practice, contribute to service transformation, and enhance multidisciplinary patient care.5,6 Despite its growing strategic
importance, access to advanced practice roles within biomedical science remains variable and incompletely understood.1
While advanced practice
is well established in professions such as nursing and allied health,7,8
its
implementation within biomedical science has developed more slowly and inconsistently across organisations and disciplines.1
Despite this, no published
literature has specifically examined barriers to accessing advanced practice positions for biomedical scientists, which limits understanding of the structural and professional challenges involved and, in turn, constrains the ability to effectively expand these roles in line with workforce priorities. A recent mixed methods study – co-
authored by Dr Alex Scot and Debbie Stevens-Gill, of the Department of Psychology, Keele University – explored the barriers and facilitators influencing access to advanced practice for biomedical scientists, across the United Kingdom, using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to examine the behavioural, organisational, and professional factors shaping career progression.9,10
This article
presents a condensed account of the key findings of the mixed methods study and their implications for workforce development.
Study design and approach The study employed a sequential mixed methods design.11,12
The initial qualitative
Where experienced advanced practitioners or consultants were available to provide guidance, participants reported greater clarity and confidence in navigating career pathways.
phase consisted of interviews and focus groups with biomedical scientists (n=21) across a wide range of career stages, including undergraduate students, early career staff, and senior practitioners operating at Band 8 and above. Participants discussed their experiences of career progression, perceptions of advanced practice, and the barriers and facilitators they felt were key to the behaviour of accessing advanced practice as a biomedical scientist. Findings from this phase informed the
development of a questionnaire, which was distributed to a wider sample of
October 2026
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