Latest news relating to the Echocardiography Training Programme

The allocation of places for the 2023 intake has not yet been confirmed. Once we have final recruitment numbers and regional distribution, this will be finalised.

We can confirm that the Expressions of Interest process for employers for the next cohort of the Echocardiography Training Programme  has closed. Successful departments will be notified once all expressions have been reviewed, and will then be able to commence recruitment to these Health Education England funded posts.

Direct entry positions will be recruited at a local level and advertised directly by the Trusts offering them. We anticipate that positions will be advertised on the NHS jobs website. Interested candidates are advised to register on the NHS Jobs website and create an alert to inform them when the posts are live, which will most likely be in Spring 2023.

The allocation of places for the 2022 intake has not yet been confirmed. Once we have final recruitment numbers and regional distribution, this will be finalised.

We can confirm that the Expressions of Interest process for employers for the next cohort of the Echocardiography Training Programme will close on 15th December 2021. Successful departments will be notified once all expressions have been reviewed, and will then be able to commence recruitment to these Health Education England funded posts.

Direct entry positions will be recruited at a local level and advertised directly by the Trusts offering them. We anticipate that positions will be advertised on the NHS jobs website. Interested candidates are advised to register on the NHS Jobs website and create an alert to inform them when the posts are live, which will most likely be in Spring 2022.

Commissioners of the ETP will allocate £2,000, per trainee, each academic year, as a contribution towards educational training support and supply to the individual employers via the agreed contractual arrangements. £2000 in the first year and £1000 for the final 6 months of the programme. For Health Education England, this funding will be included in the Trust’s Education Contract Finance Schedule along with the salary support for trainees.

Under normal circumstances, the primary purpose of this funding is to contribute to the travel and accommodation expenses that a trainee will incur as part of the academic component of the programme. Due to the impact of the pandemic on delivery models of academic programmes, trainees and training departments may also consider utilising the funding for other learning resources relevant to their programmes, for example attendance at virtual conferences, where that will enhance their learning. For trainees joining the programme at this exceptional time (2020/2021), funding may also be used to cover the cost of the BSE Accreditation process.

We are delighted to confirm that the Expressions of Interest process for the next cohort of the Echocardiography Training Programme is now complete. The next stage will be recruitment to these Health Education England funded posts. A total of 62 positions have been agreed nationally and around half of these will be Direct Entry with the remainder being In-service posts.

All Direct Entry positions will be recruited at a local level and advertised directly by the Trusts offering them. We anticipate that positions will be advertised on the NHS jobs website in the next few weeks. Interested candidates are advised to register on the NHS Jobs website and create an alert to inform them when the posts are live.

The National School of Healthcare Science is delighted to announce that this year Health Education England will fund a second cohort of training posts for Echocardiographers, with an anticipated start date 1st October 2021. There will be 22 positions available this year, and we anticipate recruitment to open in May 2021.

The Echocardiography Training Programme (ETP) is an 18 month training programme that includes work-based and academic learning. Whilst on the programme trainees will complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Echocardiography, and work towards British Society of Echocardiography Adult Transthoracic Accreditation.

Trainees will be employed at a local level by an NHS Trust in England on a fixed term training contract at AfC Band 6. The programme is open to both in-service and external (direct entry) candidates, and posts will be available nationally.

A formal process of demand scoping will commence in late February, with employers asked to respond by 24th March 2021 to be considered for trainee posts.