Message from your HSST Training Programme Directors
Dr Lisa Ayers and Dr Owen Driskell
Your message this month is from Dr Owen Driskell:
‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’. This phrase is attributed to Benjamin Franklin but has also been used by the likes of Winston Churchill, Roald Amundsen and others. The sentiment is well established. Nobody plans to fail, but failing to plan will get you some of the way there. A lot of emphasis is placed on planning for HSST. It fulfils a number of purposes. It is a way of you taking time to do the thinking required to navigate your programme and so a way of you knowing there is a path to completion from the very beginning. When things don’t go to plan it is a way of noticing this early and understanding what the impact will be and what mitigating actions need to be taken. It is a way of quickly demonstrating your situation, your needs and the impact of challenges to others and other organisations, when seeking support. In the same way, planning helps you to see, take up and adapt to the unexpected, unplanned opportunities that come along, recognising their value and fitting them into your programme without losing sight of what was intended – opportunities such as those that periodically get highlighted in this newsletter.
Healthcare Science week is on the horizon again, an opportunity to surf the wave of activity that surrounds this week with scientists coming together to raise awareness of the importance and impact of this workforce.
Also, we highlight below an opportunity for our HSST Life Scientists to apply for funding to support research projects. The scheme is run by the Royal College of Pathologists through which the Fellowship requirements of HSST for Life Sciences are awarded. This opportunity is open to Medical or Scientific postgraduate students in an RCPath specialty who are already undertaking a postgraduate research qualification under a UK institution and not a holder of another active research grant other than their funding for their postgraduate degree or small travel grants.
The collaborative meeting is the new themed board. I have heard a number of people looking for the opportunities to engage in the conversation around healthcare science education and training that were previously provided by the themed boards organised by the School. The healthcare science education and training collaborative meeting will be on Monday 27th March in Birmingham. Further details and registration are available below.
Become an examiner. If you are a HSST interested in becoming an STP assessor it will support meeting your Standards of Proficiency. Or maybe you are a workplace supervisor interested in becoming an IAPS examiner to support your candidates through first-hand experience of the assessment and joining the conversations with other examiners to help describe to candidates what it is you are looking for.
So explore the links below. They’re not click bait, I promise.
Healthcare Science Week 2023
Healthcare Science Week, 13-19 March 2023, brings together over 50 scientific specialisms and professional groups to celebrate and raise awareness of this diverse NHS workforce. Over the last 75 years NHS healthcare science has played a vital role in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease and the health of our population. Healthcare Science Week is an opportunity to showcase this work and inspire the scientific workforce of the future.
Here are some ways you could get involved:
- Raise awareness of the diverse roles within healthcare science
- Download social media banners, Microsoft Teams backgrounds and email signatures from our website.
- Speak to colleagues, family members, friends or your local community about your role in healthcare science and the impact it has on NHS care and patients.
Inspire people to think about a career in healthcare science:
- Host a stand in a public area or the foyer of your hospital.
- Give a presentation, in person or virtually, to a school, college, university, science society or club, or even your trust board.
- Become a STEM Ambassador for healthcare science.
Click here to find some useful resources for HCS Week 2023.
RCPath research start-up grant
The Royal College of Pathologists’ Fellowship Research Start-up Grant provides support to postgraduate and undergraduate students at the beginning of their research project for up to one year. A maximum amount of £4000 is awarded to postgraduate students.
These Fellowships are designed to support postgraduates begin research in Pathology and so may provide support for a project that may form the basis of further applications. The grants can support work in any discipline of medical or veterinary pathology and are not restricted to cellular pathology or histopathology.
RCPath aim to make at least one and up to three post-graduate awards and at least three and up to six undergraduate awards this year. There will be another round of applications next year.
Click here to find more information about the RCPath research start-up grant.
Turnitin Checker update
1. New Turnitin Checker FAQs published
We have published a set of answers on the school website to some frequently asked questions about the Turnitin Checker on OneFile. This page will be continually updated in response to the questions and issues we encounter.
View the Turnitin Checker FAQs
2. Do I need to run the Turnitin Checker on assessment feedback forms and MSF reports?
NO. The Turnitin Checker only needs to be run on evidence submitted for competencies. You do not need to run the Turnitin Checker on workplace-based assessment feedback forms that are completed for DOPS, OCEs or CBDs, or for MSF reports.
3. Delays in receiving similarity scores and reports
There was a period recently when Turnitin similarity scores and reports were taking much longer than the maximum of 24 hours to be generated. This excessive delay has now been addressed and ‘fixed’. Given the volume of evidence that was being submitted via OneFile to Turnitin, OneFile had placed submissions into a queuing system that was creating these delays. We have worked with OneFile to ensure that submissions are now not delayed. We apologise for the inconvenience that the delays caused.
Healthcare Science Education and Training Collaborative Meeting
We would like to invite all STP training officers to our next healthcare science education and training collaborative meeting that will take place on Monday 27 March at The Birmingham Conference & Events Centre at the Holiday Inn, Hill Street, Birmingham, B5 4EW.
Click here to find the agenda and register for this collaborative meeting on Monday 27 March.
STP assessor and HSST examiner recruitment
If you are interested in becoming an STP assessor or HSST examiner then there is still time to register.
Becoming an STP assessor represents a great way for HSST trainees to meet standards and for workplace supervisors to support their candidates through first hand experience in the IAPS by becoming an IAPS examiner.
Click here to express your interest in becoming an STP assessor or an HSST examiner.
Missed a previous edition of the HSST Monthly Memo?
We’ve published copies of the Monthly Memo for HSST trainees and training officers on our website.
Click here to view previous editions of the HSST Monthly Memo.