Clinical engineering
Clinical engineering staff check and maintain medical equipment to make sure it is safe to use and operating correctly.
Hospitals and NHS staff in the community rely on an increasingly wide range of medical equipment to provide excellent care to patients, so your role is vitally important.
Life as a clinical engineer
You’ll need a background in electronic or mechanical engineering and the confidence and willingness to take a hands-on approach.
You’ll enjoy a varied and exciting role maintaining and ensuring the safety of a wide range of medical equipment. This could range from simple devices such as nebulisers to sophisticated and life-saving equipment like radiotherapy [1] linear accelerators.
With experience, you can develop your role and gain greater responsibility to modify and construct equipment.
You will be responsible for managing medical equipment through its life cycle, ensuring that parts are replaced, guaranteeing that machines are always safe to use.
A typical day may include:
- testing new equipment
- introducing equipment and devices into service
- advising on the correct use of equipment
- addressing patient safety issues
- safely disposing of old devices
Hollie Owen
Apprentice medical engineer
It makes me feel good knowing that the equipment I fixed will go and help a patient get the treatment they need.
How much can I earn?
You’ll be employed on a national pay and conditions system called Agenda for Change (AfC) [3]. Below are examples of the pay band you’ll be on, depending on your role within neurophysiology:
- healthcare science assistant – B2/3
- healthcare science associate – B4
- healthcare science practitioner – B5
- Cclinical scientist – B6/7/8a
- consultant clinical scientist – B8a-d
How about the benefits?
- make a difference
- flexible and part-time working
- high income early in your career
- work anywhere in the world
- excellent pension scheme
- good holiday entitlement
- NHS discounts in shops and restaurants
How to become a clinical engineer
Starting your career in clinical engineering might be easier than you think. You could undertake study at university or find an apprenticeship that takes you straight into a job.
There are a wide variety of entry levels into clinical engineering such as assistant or level 2 apprenticeships, associate practitioner roles, level 4 apprenticeships.
There are also Bachelor degrees/degree apprenticeships, Master’s degrees and Higher Specialist Scientist Training.
See ‘How to become a healthcare science professional’ [4] for details.
Must-have skills
- excellent communication skills to manage a wide range of relationships with colleagues, patients and their families
- emotional resilience, a calm temperament and the ability to work well under pressure
- teamwork and the capacity to lead multidisciplinary teams
- problem-solving and diagnostic skills
- outstanding organisational ability and effective decision-making skills
- first-class time and resource management for the benefit of patients
Entry requirements
There are several different ways to start your career in clinical engineering, depending on your experience and qualifications.
Apprenticeship
You could look for an entry level job/level 2 apprenticeship – typically GCSEs 9-4/A-C in maths, English and a science. If an apprenticeship feels right for you, you’ll need 5 GCSEs at 9-4/A-C (or equivalent) including maths, English and science or Level 2 Diploma in Healthcare Science to start a level 4 apprenticeship.
Associate practitioner
An associate practitioner role is another route to a career in clinical engineering. You’ll likely require foundation degree, or equivalent experience with training and experience to NVQ level 3.
Degree-level qualification
A level 6 apprenticeship or degree course require relevant level 3 qualifications, for example three A-levels (including at least one science subject) or an Access to higher education course.
Post-graduate
To start the NHS Scientist Training Programme, you’ll need a 1st or 2:1 in relevant first degree or relevant higher degree and 2:2 in a relevant subject.
Higher Specialist Scientist Training is available for registered clinical scientists with relevant MSc or specialist diploma.
Where a career in clinical engineering can take you
Working in clinical engineering can lead to registration as a Clinical Scientist. You can then move into senior and consultant Clinical Scientist roles, through the Higher Specialist Scientist Training (HSST) programme [5].
It can also lead to careers in academia, research, industry, management and leadership and training.