This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Bursary scheme for biomedical students
02/11/2005
Scottish biomedical science students are to get bursaries to encourage them to work in the NHS when they graduate.
The scheme, open to third and fourth year students, will also mean students can become state registered while studying for their degree, saving one year of training after graduation.
At Abertay University's biomedicine laboratory. Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald said:
"This announcement should offer real incentives to biomedical science students to join the NHS when they graduate.
"Biomedical scientists are vital to the NHS. Often their work is carried out behind the scenes in hospitals but it is absolutely crucial in diagnosing and managing illness for patients. The new bursaries will provide students with money to cover the cost of doing NHS placements.
"Also for the first time ever, biomedical science students will now be able to become state registered to work in the NHS while they study. This will mean scientists will no longer have to undergo a further year of training after graduation. Importantly, biomedical science graduates will no longer have to enter the NHS as trainees and can now enter the profession on a higher salary.
"Scottish universities who provide biomedical science degrees have been extremely supportive in implementing state registration and revising their course content to suit the needs of the NHS, and have helped make today's announcement possible.
"We know that we need more biomedical scientists in the NHS and we are taking steps to address this today. I am confident this work should help to recruit more biomedical science graduates into the NHS."
Professor Palfreyman, Head of the School of Contemporary Sciences at Abertay, said:
"This is a very significant development indeed, and we greatly welcome the Minister's announcement today. Universities like Abertay will now be able to offer integrated degrees teaching highly employable skills that lead directly into rewarding careers.
"The new degree programmes and the associated bursaries will make biomedical sciences much more attractive to students, and thus help to address a severe skills shortage in the health service."
Biomedical scientists are the largest group of staff that work in laboraties. There are 1,600 employed in the NHS in Scotland in four main areas: haematology, clinical chemistry, microbiology and pathology.
Currently, biomedical scientists are recruited after graduation and need to undergo further training for a year to become state registered to be able to work in the NHS.
From autumn 2006 students taking science degrees will be able to complete state registration in the final year of their course (either third or fourth year) enabling graduates to enter the profession on a higher salary. State registration is the same as being registered with the Health Professions Council.
The Biomedical Scientists Careers Modernisation Board has been working with Scottish universities to develop courses that are more geared towards the needs of the NHS. Universities have revised their course content and have now included NHS clinical placements into the curriculum.
From autumn 2006, biomedical science students in the third and fourth year of their degree course, who are interested in working in the NHS, will now receive bursaries to cover the cost of their NHS placements. The bursaries will be worth £2,000 a year , and are designed specifically to compensate for earnings that students on NHS placements would otherwise have made.
The new bursary scheme will be piloted for three years and evaluated to see what impact it has made on the recruitment of biomedical scientists to the NHS.