Clinical Engineering – 2025 periodic review results

Current priority areas

• 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future
• Science in healthcare: Delivering the NHS Long Term Plan – The Chief Scientific Officer’s strategy

Stakeholder feedback

Feedback collecting through the Curriculum Library survey collected between January 2024 and November 2025. All stakeholder feedback is presented verbatim.

Programme

• Risk management is a key component of being a Clinical Engineer. So much so that I think it would be beneficial to have a dedicated Training Activity relating to it. – Similarly in relation to project management
• Training provided is too varied across centres. As the specialism is trying to cover what used to be 3 sub-specialisms, impossible to hit even the “specialist” modules in one department.
• The current training activities outlined in the curriculum feel too vague, which makes it difficult to understand what is expected in practice. Including specific examples of these activities would be very beneficial. Additionally, while the curriculum has consciously moved away from strict “competencies” to accommodate differences in training centre capabilities, the current approach creates some challenges for Clinical Engineering trainees. Training activities are divided into observational, developmental, and entrustable categories. However, in Clinical Engineering, there are no entrustable training activities, whereas other specialties include activities that require trainees to demonstrate they can perform certain tasks independently.

This means that, in theory, Clinical Engineering trainees only need to complete an activity once and reflect on it, rather than showing repeated competence. While this may align with the curriculum’s flexibility goals, it could leave trainees at a disadvantage when interviewing for jobs, as they may lack evidence of practical, demonstrable skills compared to peers in other specialties.

Introducing a small number of entrustable activities—or at least activities requiring competence—could help ensure trainees develop practical skills and confidence. This would not necessarily need to replicate other specialties’ models but it would provide a stronger foundation for professional readiness.

S-CE-R1 Introduction to Clinical Engineering

• no feedback received

S-CE-R2 Introduction to Physiological Measurement

Training activities

• 5 – Training activities 5 and 6 are incredibly similar – TA 5 is for an acute environment and TA 6 is for a ward environment. Trainees have found it difficult to find clinics/measurements that are done in an acute environment that they are able to get access to. consideration should be given to merging these2 TAs to make it easier for trainees to complete.

S-CE-S1 Healthcare Technology Management

Training activities

• 3 – There is no reference to management of safety notices or the Medical Device Safety Officer (MDSO) role as part of the Healthcare Technology Management module. Competency 3 is a responsibility that would be covered by the MDSO role. Either there could be a separate competency for safety notice management or the 3 elements could be included together.
• 7 – The Training Activity says: Provide information and training to an equipment user including a patient and healthcare professional for:
  • “Off the shelf” standard UKCA marked unmodified equipment
  • Custom equipment (in house development or modified medical devices)

It seems to mean that the training activity requires at least one example of training a patient, and at least one example of training a healthcare professional (fair enough), but it is not clear whether both off the shelf AND custom equipment MUST be covered – for the type of equipment is it AND or OR. I would suggest ‘OR’ would be acceptable but the training network could be asked for a consensus. If a trainee trains a patient for custom equipment and a healthcare professional for off the shelf, I assume that clearly covers the training activity? But if the trainee trains a patient for off the shelf and a healthcare professional also for off the shelf, do they then need to find an opportunity to train either a patient or a healthcare professional on custom equipment? My opinion is that the important skill here is gaining experience training different audiences on equipment use, whether this is off the shelf or custom. The complexity of either can range from very simple to reasonably complex, so that’s not a distinguishing factor. The skill the training activity centres on is similar either way – there may be additional considerations for a piece of custom equipment but that could be considered to be covered by the training activity “Plan/scope the introduction of a non-conforming device into clinical/research use”. Another reason for suggesting ‘OR’ is that some clinical engineering services, particularly those that primarily link to the module Healthcare Technology Management, do not have a very high throughput of custom devices which can make finding ‘info/training handover opportunities’ at the right time in the training a bit challenging.

• 10 – Feels like a duplication of competencies in Patient Pathway, or at the very least that this Training Activity should sit there instead of in the HTM module.
• 10 – Unless in a specific role, physiological measurements will not be part of routine practise so it’s hard to be signed off at a second year level without spending significant time at another department. Should be done as part of the physiological measurement rotation so that “competency” isn’t required. – Seems more relevant as an OTA rather than DTA, unless in specific area of physiological measurement practise.

S-CE-S2 Analytics

Training activities

• 7 – FEA seems to be a very specific technique that is rarely used these days. Might be more appropriate to be more generic, allowing use of one of many validation techniques. Could be an expansion of rather than a separate Training Activity to HTI comp 11: Produce and test a mechanical component
• 8 – Simulate a prototype electronic circuit – This is already done as part of coursework at KCL
• 9 – All trainees have fed back that they struggled with this Training Activity and many Training Officers also struggle to advise regarding how to meet these requirements. It seems a theoretical exercise and therefore better suited to KCL especially as the principles are covered by a KCL lecture that explores this modelling. If this is deemed to be necessary as part of the skillset of developing the trainees could it be completed as a piece of coursework at KCL?

S-CE-S3 Health Technology Innovation

Training activities

• 10 – This is the same as Training Activity 8 in the Analytics module. And could be covered by KCL coursework which the trainees already complete.
• 13 – In a DMRG setting there is rarely a need to design a calibration/PPM routine because we follow the manufacturers instructions. We use activities such as risk assessing existing maintenance or training risks, or establishing PPM SOPs based upon the OEM criteria, or an appreciation of UKAS accreditation to meet this Training Activity. Could this Training Activity be broadened out?

S-CE-S4 Patient Pathway

• no feedback received

Changes made

Module level changes

Programme level changes

Rationale

Please provide an overview of the rationale for why the proposed changes are needed or why changes were not needed, with reference to stakeholder feedback.

Response

Feedback from training centres indicated that Introduction to Medical Physics and Introduction to Clinical Scientific Computing rotations were challenging to deliver in practice, and in some cases, content from these rotations was not carried forward into the specialism. Clinical Engineering have limited influence in the content of these modules, however there is scope to adopt different rotational modules.

It was identified that Critical Care Science offer an Introduction to Medical Device Management rotation. The decision was made to adopt this module in place of Introduction to Medical Physics. This provides trainees with foundational training that is directly built upon within the Healthcare Technology Management specialism. It was agreed to retain Introduction to Clinical Scientific Computing, instead of Medical Physics, as it was felt that it is more likely that Clinical engineer will encounter and work within this environment within their careers.

Introducing the Medical Device Management rotation, along side Introduction to Physiological Measurement, created the opportunity to better reflect the three historical specialisms within the rotation block. As a result, Introduction to Clinical Engineering has been reconfigured as Introduction to Clinical and Rehabilitation Engineering. Overall, these changes aim to improve the relevance and deliverability of the rotations across training centres, providing trainees with a solid foundation for their specialism training.

The current iteration of the curriculum merged the historic Clinical Engineering specialisms, pushing engineers to be innovative versatilists. However the feedback highlighted that the merged curriculum was difficult to deliver, with some training activities perceived as vague or duplicated.

The review committee was keen to retain the original principle of a unified curriculum, while aligning with guidance from the National School of Healthcare Science, which emphasised that training should focus on the knowledge and skillset required from day one as a Clinical Scientist. Therefore, the changes to the specialism modules focused on: consolidating duplicated activities across the modules, improving the clarity of training activities and enhancing the deliverability of the scheme across diverse training environments.

Healthcare Technology Innovation has undergone the most significant revisions. Multiple training activities across HTI and Analytics focused on the design and testing of mechanical/electrical components or software. These have now been consolidated into a generalised design process, independent of the chosen technology. The intention is that the trainee can follow the development of a single healthcare technology whilst drawing on the expertise of their host department.

This consolidation has created capacity within Analytics, which has incorporated statistical/analytical focused training activities from Healthcare Technology Management and Healthcare Technology Innovation.

The community feedback identified gaps in core content within Healthcare Technology Management. These are now reflected through new training activities in risk management, procurement and National Patient Safety Alerts.

There was no specific feedback for Patient Pathways, however capacity was created within the module through the consolidation of training activities. Therefore additional activities have been included to reflect the shift to community based care within the NHS.

Lastly, the feedback highlighted the lack of entrustable training activities within the curriculum. Whilst the programme is constrained by merging of specialisms and finite nature of the curriculum, a small number of entrustable activities have now been incorporated within the specialism.

Specialty Lead Editor signature: Brett Cohen
Date: 12 June 2026

Change control - completed by the school

Programme structure

Completed by: Chris Fisher
Date: 11 June 2026

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) mapping

• The HCPC SOPS remain mapped with the continued exception of standard 13:12 “know, appropriate to the speciality or specialities , how to position or immobilise service users for safe and effective interventions”, which is not central to practice in this specialty.

Completed by: Chris Fisher
Date: 11 June 2026

Major change stakeholder survey

In progress