NHS Higher Specialist Scientist Training

Consultant healthcare scientists improve patient care by applying their specialist scientific skills.

What does the training scheme involve?

• a five-year programme at a similar standard to medical specialty training
• work-based training and study at doctorate level
• possibly gaining Medical Royal College qualifications (eg fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists).

What opportunities are there?

It can be possible to find posts in:

• clinical bioinformatics
• life sciences
• physical sciences and biomedical engineering
• physiological sciences

Click on the boxes below to find out more about each area and find out more about the different healthcare science roles [1].

How do I get a place?

There are two ways to get on to an HSST [2] programme:

• direct entry - apply for a newly advertised post in an accredited training department
• in-service training - be nominated by your employer to move into an existing post

How do I apply?

The application window usually opens in late winter/early spring, for entry later the same year.

For the very latest information about important dates, please check the National School of Healthcare Science website [3]

• Clinical bioinformatics

  Depending on workforce needs for any given intake, it is possible to find posts in:

  • clinical bioinformatics (genomics) [4]
  • clinical bioinformatics (health informatics) [5]
  • clinical bioinformatics (physical sciences) [6]

• Life sciences

  Depending on workforce needs for any given intake, it is possible to find posts in:

  • analytic toxicology [7]
  • clinical biochemistry [8]
  • clinical immunology [9]
  • clinical and laboratory transfusion [10]
  • genomics [11]
  • haematology [12]
  • histocompatibility and immunogenetics [13]
  • microbiology [14]
  • molecular pathology of acquired disease
  • molecular pathology of infection
  • reproductive science [15]
  • virology [16]

• Physical sciences/biomedical engineering

  Depending on workforce needs for any given intake, it is possible to find posts in:

  • clinical biomedical engineering [17]
  • medical physics (imaging physics and radiotherapy physics) [18]
  • reconstructive science [19]

• Physiological sciences

  Depending on workforce needs for any given intake, it is possible to find posts in:

  • audiological science [20]
  • cardiac science [21]
  • gastrointestinal physiology [22]
  • neurophysiological science [23]
  • ophthalmic and vision science [24]
  • respiratory and sleep science [25]
  • urodynamic science [26]
  • vascular science [27]