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Returning to clinical biochemistry
This page provides information and advice for clinical biochemists who would like to return to clinical biochemistry.
Information for returners
There are no formal programmes through which clinical biochemists can return to the profession.This has been considered at some length by the Education Committee of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry whose conclusion was that, because the profession is small it is not practical to set up such a programme. If one was to be established it would require a few individual Trusts to accept responsibility for establishing posts to accommodate this, as there is no precedent there was clearly no support.
However, those leaving the profession with the intention of returning would be advised to:
- Retain their membership of the ACB (Association for Clinical Biochemistry)
- Continue with CPD (Continuing Professional Development)
- Continue with their registration as a Clinical Scientist with the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM)
Those that had not reached this point would be applying for posts with some training input, and the interviewee would be advised on what those training requirements would be. These posts would also normally have an assessor on the panel, who would frequently be a Department of Health Assessor.
Those that have been out of the profession for longer periods would find it difficult to maintain their CPD, and many who have lost their registration as a consequence of the time period would usually have to re-enter through a lower clincial scientist post where there would be a training (in the individuals case re-training) element.
