CAREERS


alternatives, as suggested by the recent Pathology Transformation Review carried out by Lord Carter of Coles and commissioned by the IBMS.3


The review


illuminates this harder path quite starkly. It identifies that the primary barrier to geting graduates into the profession is not a lack of interest. Instead, pathways into the profession are obstructed by an absence of supernumerary training capacity, and departmental workloads that make it challenging to release senior and training staff from the bench to deliver training. Lord Carter paints a picture of a training environment impacted by staffing shortages, rising demand and increasing complexity, where trainees need to hit the ground running.3 The wider healthcare literature


suggests that in challenging environments like this, a strong professional identity acts as a resilience buffer, lowering vulnerability to the work-related stress and burnout that drive atrition.4,5


It’s


the mechanism that transforms a new employee from someone who works in a laboratory to a biomedical scientist who chooses the role even on the hard days, even when they could easily do something else. However, the training of biomedical scientists and the role itself can present barriers to the formation of this professional identity that other healthcare professions do not face, which we will now explore.


The mirror Unlike most healthcare professionals, biomedical scientists rarely see the beneficiaries of their work and importantly those beneficiaries rarely see them. Biomedical scientists generally will not experience the same validation and instant gratification that comes from a patient directly acknowledging a job well


Profession Occupational therapy Physiotherapy


Fig 1. When registered-practitioner practice learning occurs across HCPC-regulated pre-registration pathways. Every profession shares an academic taught phase (hatched); the allied health professions add supervised practice placements (solid) distributed across the programme, while biomedical science practice is condensed into a single third-year sandwich placement (a minority route) or deferred to a post- qualification portfolio.


done, reinforcing a nascent professional identity; in the same way that a physiotherapist or occupational therapist might. Additionally, the general public has a poor understanding of the role. As noted by Lord Carter, we operate “largely out of public view”.3


This means we don’t


experience an early societal impression of what and who a biomedical scientist should be in the same way that a doctor or nurse might. Structural features of the training


pathway can exacerbate this issue, as training is generally delivered in two


Practice-based learning Distribution ≥1,000 hours


≥1,000 hours


Diagnostic radiography ≥1,200 hours Dietetics


Speech and


language therapy Biomedical science


interspersed ≥1,000 hours ≥ 562.5 hours


No mandated in-degree hours


Embedded throughout Sequential placements


across the programme Concurrent or block


throughout


Year-three sandwich placement (minority) or


Registered radiographer Registered dietitian


(practice educator)


Registered speech and language Royal College of Speech and therapist (practice educator)


Language Therapists


Registered biomedical scientist (training officer) in the


post-qualification portfolio workplace


Table 1. Practice-based learning across HCPC-regulated pre-registration pathways. Requirements are set by each profession’s own standard-seting body under common HCPC programme approval; the HCPC sets outcome-based standards and does not itself mandate placement hours or their distribution.6-11


44 WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM October 2026


Institute of Biomedical Science; Health and Care Professions Council


Society and College of Radiographers British Dietetic Association


Four placements


across the programme Five to six placements


Practice supervised by Registered occupational


therapist (practice educator) Registered physiotherapist


distinct phases; an academic phase and a clinical phase. The academic phase instils sound scientific foundations that underpin the role; while the development of the values and behaviours commensurate with being a healthcare professional is largely deferred to the clinical phase. IBMS accreditation criteria mandate the involvement of HCPC-registered practitioners in the academic phase, but they are non-prescriptive in terms of the number of practitioners that should be involved or how they should be involved.6


This means that the majority of Requirement set by Royal College of Occupational Therapists Chartered Society of Physiotherapy During the programme


Occupational therapy Physiotherapy Dietetics


Speech and language therapy


Diagnostic radiography


Biomedical science (sandwich route)


Biomedical science (post-graduation)


Academic-phase input After qualification


Supervised practice placement Qualification point


Indicative of typical pre-registration routes; position shows timing, not duration. Sandwich placement falls in year 3 of a 4-year programme; many graduates enter other sectors.


Post-qualification


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