The National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) is responsible for overseeing the implementation of education and training programmes for healthcare science, working with the national commissioners on workforce planning and provision with remit across the four UK nations. We are the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) approved education provider for the NHS’s postgraduate Scientist Training Programme (STP). We are a national organisation embedded within and funded by Health Education England.
Programmes
We support the community of healthcare scientists (HCS) delivering education and training in the UK and work with them to produce HCS who are changing patient and clinical outcomes, contributing to multi-professional working and new ways of integrated working, and are leading in many areas of innovation and translational research within the NHS. The healthcare science training programmes hosted by the School are:
- Scientist Training Programme (STP)
- Higher Specialist Scientist Training (HSST) Programme
- Practitioner Training Programme (PTP)
- Accredited Scientific Practice (ASP) Programme
- Echocardiography Training Programme (ETP)
One of our major responsibilities is in managing the education and training on our Scientist Training Programme (STP) and Higher Specialist Scientist Training (HSST) Programme.
Services
We facilitate several areas of work; we manage the annual national recruitment activities, we accredit all universities and workplaces delivering healthcare science programmes, we develop and review the curricula, we carry out the national assessment strategy including delivery of the final assessment and we provide support and assistance to trainees and their training officers throughout their training.
Fellowships
Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowships
We work across the healthcare science education and training system to support initiatives linked to national programmes such as cancer or workforce shortages – we are changing cancer care through medical devices, apps and other healthcare technologies to benefit people living with cancer in primary and secondary care.
TOPOL Programme for Digital Fellowships
The Topol Programme for Digital Fellowships in Healthcare provides health professionals with time, support and training to lead digital health transformations and innovations in their organisations.
We host the Topol Digital Fellowship, running the national recruitment process, providing pastoral support and aiding the workshops.
Team contacts
The National School of Healthcare Science is based in the Birmingham office.
The team can be contacted at: nshcs@hee.nhs.uk
You can find more ways to get in touch with us on the contact us page.