This occupation is found in hospitals, general practice and other settings in the health sector.
Employers can vary in size from a large national organisation such as the NHS through to a private practice.
Healthcare Science Associates work in Life Sciences, Physiological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Clinical Engineering, Clinical Bioinformatics in environments such as outpatient departments laboratories and engineering workshops.
The individual environment they work in determines the full scope of their role and the range of tests and activities they carry out.
Healthcare Science Associates are part of a wider team contributing to safe patient care across all care pathways from conception to end of life across all areas of healthcare science.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to perform a range of technical and scientific procedures and support the work of Healthcare Science Practitioners and Clinical Scientists.
The Healthcare Science Associate performs routine healthcare science investigations and communicates their results.
Healthcare Science Associates are likely to support the development and maintenance of healthcare science standards and protocols. They may contribute to the functioning of clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic services. They might help with quality controlling the technical processing of samples or tests. They may also manage medical equipment.
The Healthcare Science Associate follows specific procedures in accordance with health, safety, governance and ethical requirements.
In their daily work, an employee typically interacts with Healthcare Science professionals, the wider multi-disciplinary healthcare team, patients and the public.
They also support other members of the multi-disciplinary team with procedures from conception through to completion.
A Healthcare Science Associate will be responsible for performing diagnostic tests and tasks. They will also record and escalate adverse incidents or any results requiring urgent action to senior staff. They will deliver training and guidance to others.
They will support others on performing investigations and the appropriate use of equipment. They will plan their own workload and supervise that of others. They will ensure the effective use of stock and physical resources.
The Healthcare Science Associate follows specific procedures in accordance with health, safety, governance and ethical requirements.
A Healthcare Science Associate will contribute to multi-professional teamwork and to the day-to-day supervision of the service and its staff. They will ensure the accuracy of data recorded and collected. They will also take part in quality improvement, research and improvement as required by the role.
