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Corinne TalksSupportingInnovation inWales
Lab Tests Online-UKMarketingPersonSought
Lapworth OrganisingRetiredMembersSection
Science4UAward
HCPC RegistrationExplained
The Association for Clinical Biochemistry & Laboratory Medicine | Issue 628 | August 2015
ACBNews
About ACB NewsThe Editor is responsible for the finalcontent. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the ACB. EditorProfessor Jonathan BergDepartment of Clinical BiochemistryCity HospitalDudley RoadBirmingham B18 7QHTel: 07792-912163/0121-507-5353Fax: 0121-507-5290Email: [email protected]
Associate Editors Mrs Sophie BarnesDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry12th Floor, Lab BlockCharing Cross HospitalFulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8RFEmail: [email protected]
Dr Gina Frederick Pathology Laboratory, Level 5Royal Derby HospitalUttoxeter RoadDerby DE22 3NEEmail: [email protected]
Mr Ian HanningDepartment of Clinical BiochemistryHull Royal InfirmaryAnlaby RoadHull HU3 2JZEmail: [email protected]
Dr Derren Ready Microbial DiseasesEastman Dental Hospital University College London Hospitals (UCLH) 256 Gray’s Inn Road London WC1X 8LD Email: [email protected]
Situations Vacant AdvertisingPlease contact the ACB Office:Tel: 0207-403-8001 Fax: 0207-403-8006Email: [email protected]
Display Advertising & InsertsPRC Associates Ltd1st Floor Offices115 Roebuck RoadChessingtonSurrey KT9 1JZTel: 0208-337-3749 Fax: 0208-337-7346Email: [email protected]
ACB Administrative OfficeAssociation for Clinical Biochemistry & Laboratory Medicine130-132 Tooley StreetLondon SE1 2TUTel: 0207-403-8001 Fax: 0207-403-8006Email: [email protected]
ACB PresidentDr Gwyn McCreanorTel: 01536-492692Email: [email protected]: @ACBPresident
ACB Home Pagehttp://www.acb.org.uk
Printed by Swan Print Ltd, BedfordISSN 1461 0337© Association for Clinical Biochemistry &Laboratory Medicine 2015
ACBNewsGeneral News page 4
Practice FRCPath Style Calculations page 11
Current Topics page 13
Meeting Reports page 15
Training Matters page 17
ACB News Crossword page 18
Situations Vacant page 19
Issue 628 • August 2015
The monthly magazine for clinical science
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
Front cover: Christine Squire,formerly Consultant Biochemistin Liverpool, meets up withdaughter Corinne Squire at Focus 2015 in Cardiff
Shirley Bowles CleansUp in Cardiff
Well done to Shirley Bowles from Countess of Chester Hospital who won both the 2015 ACB Clinical Cases Poster Prize and the2015 ACB Audit Poster Prize. �
Marketing andPromotions Job at Lab Tests Online-UKLab Tests Online-UK is looking for anenthusiastic volunteer to join the Marketingand Promotions team. This person will beresponsible for providing regular short articlesfor the news feed on the website and topartake in the @LabTestsUK Twitter accountrota. If you are interested and would like toapply please send a short application including information about yourself and why you are interested in the post. We lookforward to hearing from you. Please send queries and applications to
Rebecca Leyland, [email protected],the deadline for applications is Friday 4thSeptember. �
Ian Leggate OBEWe are sorry to report the death of Ian Leggate who was a Top Grade Biochemistat Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow who died on16th June 2015. �
4 | General News
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
SudokuThis month’s puzzle
Lastmonth’ssolution
Coming Next Month
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
6 | General News
The ACB has decided to establish a section ofthe Association specifically for retiredmembers. A number of professionalorganisations include a section for retiredmembers within their structures but until nowthis has not been the case within the ACB.Ordinary Members who have retired from fulltime employment can opt to change theirmembership category to ‘Retired Member’ ormay be elected to Honorary or EmeritusMember or Fellow of the Association. Retiredmembers in these categories may becontacted if required but there is noformal/recognised section or forum whichincludes all retired members, constitutingapproximately 25% of the membership.
Making ContactEarlier this year a questionnaire wasdistributed to members in the ‘RetiredMember’ category to determine whethersufficient interest existed to create a newsection for retired members within the ACB.Replies were received from almost 30% of the438 retired members who were contacted. The majority indicated they would like to join
a section for retired members. More than 70% of these respondents said they wereinterested in attending local scientific/clinicalmeetings to keep in touch with formercolleagues as well as networkingelectronically.It was therefore agreed to form a new
section of the Association specifically forretired members. All members in the Retired,Fellow or Emeritus category will be contactedto ask if they want to be included in futuremailings about the new section. Any memberwho has retired from full time employmentwho is in the Ordinary or Honorary Membercategory should contact the ACB Office if theywish to be included in the Retired Memberssection.I would like to thank all the retired
members who responded to the questionnairefor their comments and suggestions and lookforward to receiving more input andparticipation to ensure the success of this newventure.
� Ruth Lapworth can be contacted at:[email protected] �
ACB for Retired Members SectionRuth Lapworth
As an ACB member you have access to ACB Extras, an exclusive portfoliocontaining money-saving discounts, designed to support ACB membersboth personally and professionally. There is no sign up process, nor anyextra charge to access these benefits - you are automatically eligible toaccess these benefits by virtue of your membership. This month’s highlightsinclude:
� ACB Extras has teamed up with Voice Mobile, an EE Principal partner, to offer fantastic deals on the latest handsets from EE. Voice Mobileoffer tariffs that aren’t available direct from EE, either online or on thehigh street. With EE, you’ll get access to the UK’s biggest 4G network,offering superfast internet speeds. If you’re looking for the iPhone 6,the Samsung Galaxy S6, HTC One M9 or any other top handset, VoiceMobile will find the right tariff for you. Tariffs can also include: 24month handset warranty, European roaming calls and texts, Tethering, and London Underground Wi-Fi.
Visit www.acb.org.uk or call 0800 1830 991 and quote ACB. �
ACB Extras Phone Deals
The ACB actively supports the Science4Uschools science day and sponsors the DonHenderson trophy given to the school thatundertakes and presents the best project.Numerous ACB members have given their timeto inspire secondary school students to studyscience. The citation for The Science4U Organising
Committee read:“Science4u.info has been in existence since
2002 and encompasses an annual schoolsscience conference and associated website.The organising committee is made up ofHealth Care Scientists from the NHS andrelated organisations. Initially start-up fundswere received from the Local HealthAuthority; since 2004 the group has beenreliant upon sponsorship from charities andprofessional organisations. These conferencesare open to students of all abilities in years 9-11; they try to reach the less academic andprivileged schools. At least 25% of thestudents come from schools which failed tomeet the government target of 70% 5 A-CGCSE passes. English is a second language for21% of students. The students come frommany ethnicities and 37% of students receivedfree school meals. From the evaluations, weknow that these conferences have a positiveimpact upon the students, motivating them tostudy science and influencing their careeraspirations. Previously the Royal College of
Pathology has hosted the conference. With their move, Science4U has partneredwith the University of Westminster to host theconference this year. The Science4U committeehas negotiated this partnership, recruitedmore scientists and raised the funds to hostthis conference for 270 students and theirteachers.” �
8 | General News
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
Science4u 2015 Healthcare Science AwardAmbassador Category
Professor Sue Hill (CSO), Manfred Almeida (Treasurerand Laboratory Manager, Charing Cross), KimberlyGilmour (Chair and GOSH), Ayuen Lual (Committeemember and PHE), Mike Carter (Committee memberand PHE) and Sir Bruce Keogh (Medical Director, NHSEngland)
General News | 9
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
Our front cover shows Christine Squire, whoused to be a leading Clinical Scientist inLiverpool, with her daughter, meeting up atFocus 2015 in Cardiff. Dr Corinne Squire cameto talk at a Focus lunchtime seminar about herwork in supporting people with new ideas andinnovations through the Health TechnologyChallenge Wales Scheme. This initiative is allabout making connections across Wales with amission to bring NHS staff, academics andothers together to take forward the manypotential innovative ideas in the NHS. Theinitiative started with a website where peoplecan publish their idea and these are takenforward in an almost Facebook style of ‘liking’or even occasionally ‘not liking’ on an openinnovation platform. The website has 450members with an area to write your idea andwith the most popular ideas floating to thetop of the web page based on ‘likes’.
The scheme had some seed corn money withthe first group of projects funded in January2014 after a short awarding process and withgrants of up to £25,000 being awarded. The latest round has seen more involvementfrom commerce, the third sector and patients. Projects have included point of care, wound
dressings, child friendly injection techniquesand the development of Apps amongst otherthings. For example, a prostate cancer app hasbeen produced for patient data collection andthis has been implemented in Cardiff andlooks like it will be taken up in other places. You can see more details about this
work once you have created an account on the website (www.satre.ideascale.com). To participate in Health Technology
Challenge Wales you have to be based in theWelsh NHS or university institution. �
Electronic copies – click on the photo to go to a video with Corinne explaining how it all works
Corinne Explains Facebook Style InnovationsWebsite for Wales
10 | General News
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
A joint meeting between the ACB Southern Region and the University ofWestminster
Friday 4th September 09.15-09.55 Registration and Coffee
Main Foyer 09.55-10.00 Welcome
Room c2.12
Morning session 10.00-11.00 Member’s Papers x 4 11.00-11.30 Tea and Coffee Break 11.30-12.30 Member’s Papers x 4 12.30-13.30 Lunch
Pavillion, 1st Floor
Afternoon session Room c2.12 13.30-14.15 New Directions in Screening for Aneuploidy in the First Trimester
Prof Kevin Spencer, Romford14.15-14.55 The Role of Biochemistry in Pregnancy Care: Current Practice and Future Research
Dr Asma Khalil, St George’s14.55-15.20 Tea and Coffee Break 15.20-16.05 Targeted Metabolomic Approach to the Diagnosis of Inborn Errors of
Metabolism using Tandem Mass Spectrometry Prof Neil Dalton, Evalina/Guy’s
16.05-16.45 The new expanded newborn screening programme in the UK: An Overview Adeboye Ifederu, GOSH
16.45 Bill Richmond Prize Awards 17.00 onwards Drink’s Reception
Pavillion, 1st Floor
For more information, including details on how to register and for a copy of the registration form, please visit the
Regional Meetings section of the ACB website http://www.acb.org.uk/whatwedo/events/regional_meetings.aspx
ACB Southern Region
Biochemical Monitoring inthe Pre- and Post-NatalPeriods and Members’ Papers
Practice FRCPath Style Calculations | 11
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
The following data were obtained for a 26 year-old Caucasian male of average build at hisroutine six-month psychiatric clinic appointment:
Serum lithium = 4.65 mmol/LSerum creatinine = 275 µmol/L
He was clinically well and told to stop taking his lithium. His psychiatrist has asked you to use theabove information to estimate the time it will take for his serum lithium to return to therelatively safe value of 1.5 mmol/L by endogenous clearance alone.
Lithium is distributed throughout body water and is cleared by glomerular filtration. The raisedcreatinine suggests that the toxic lithium concentration has most likely arisen due to a decreasedGFR extending the half life of the drug.
First calculate the patients eGFR from his serum creatinine concentration. The 4v – MDRDformula is usually quoted as:
GFR (mL/min/1.73m2) = 175 x [creatinine (µmol/L) x 0.011312]-1.154 x age (y)-0.203
x 1.21 (if black) x 0.742 (if female)
However, the imprecision of eGFR is approximately 15% due both to biological variation and theimprecision of serum creatinine measurement. Therefore it makes no sense to include constantsexpressed to 5 significant figures! A much simpler version is adequate for our purposes – and iseasier to remember:
GFR (mL/min/1.73m2) = 175 x [creatinine (µmol/L) x 0.011]-1.2 x age (y)-0.2
x 1.2 (if black) x 0.74 (if female)
Since the patient is a 26 year-old male Caucasian this simplifies to:
GFR (mL/min/1.73m2) = 175 x (275 x 0.011)-1.2 x 26-0.2
= 175 x 3.03-1.2 x 26-0.2
= 175 x antilog10 (-1.2 x log103.03) x antilog10 (-0.2 x log10 26)
= 175 x antilog10 (-1.2 x 0.481) x antilog10 (-0.2 x 1.41)
= 175 x antilog10 (-0.577) x antilog10 (-0.282)
= 175 x 0.265 x 0.522
= 24 mL/min/1.73m2 (to 2 significant figures)
Alternatively some calculators can work out negative powers directly.
Deacon’s Challenge No 171 - Answer
12 | Practice FRCPath Style Calculations
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
Making the following assumptions:
• That this GFR value is appropriate (the patient’s height and weight are unknown so it is notpossible to correct this value for his true surface area).
• That any recently ingested lithium is fully absorbed and distributed throughout body water.• That his total body water is typical of a 70 kg adult male at 42 L and can be used as anapproximate value for his volume of distribution (Vd) of lithium.
• That his GFR remains constant.
The time taken to reach a safe value can be calculated from the first-order rate equation. Using the logarithmic form of the integrated rate equation:
lnCpt = ln Cp0 - kd.t
where Cpt = target lithium concentration = 1.5 mmol/LCp0 = initial lithium concentration = 4.65 mmol/Lkd = elimination rate constant for lithiumt = time taken to reach target concentration = ?
kd is not given but can be estimated from the clearance (eGFR) and volume of distribution (Vd):
kd = ClearanceVd
The clearance is in mL/min whereas Vd is in litres and it would be useful if t were in hours notminutes:
Therefore converting clearance to L/h:
Clearance = 24 x 60 = 1.44 L/h1000
Therefore kd = Clearance = 1.44 = 0.0343 h-1
Vd 42
Substituting Cpt, Cp0 and kd into the first order equation:
ln 1.5 = ln 4.65 - 0.0343t0.405 = 1.537 - 0.0343t0.0343t = 1.537 - 0.405 = 1.132
t = 1.132 = 33 h (to 2 significant figures) 0.0343
Question 172A patient has the following results:
Serum copper 12.5 µmol/L (13-26)Serum caeruloplasmin 155 mg/L (200-450)
Assuming that caeruloplasmin is the only protein in serum to bind a significant amount ofcopper, calculate the serum concentration of free (unbound) copper.
Copper content of caeruloplasmin 0.3%Atomic mass of copper 63.6
FRCPath, Autumn 2014
Current Topics | 13
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
A fine April morning found a good crowd atthe Spring Scientific Meeting of the NorthernIreland ACB. The morning session was full oftopical areas and ACB News will report severalof them. Here we start with Professor EricKilpatrick’s excellent bird’s eye view of howthe professions should tackle the sensitiveissue of demonstrating personal proficiency.Ian Barnes also looked at this issue in the Flynn Lecture at Focus 2015 – click on thephoto on the electronic version to view avideo clip of the relevant part of his lecture.
Future Gazing for Context
Eric started by considering laboratory medicinefutures. Five years ago it all may have seemedlike a downward spiral. Indeed around 2010significant posts for Clinical Scientists inparticular were being lost. Clearly there arechanges in the profiles of the skill mix, withloss of higher band staff being replaced, it appears, by lower bands. This is seen in the2013 data being collated by Brian Shine’sworkforce report. The same responsibility, butlower pay banding than previously, is of coursenot a surprise finding and is seen across manyother parts of the NHS. For medical posts there is seen to be a
current balance between posts and traineesbut this will potentially be lost after 2017. So, the downward spiral is not all doom andgloom for those currently looking for careerpositions. Indeed, we may well not haveenough trainees to fill vacant posts in the near future.Key to proficiency is an understanding of
who are we relevant to and the differentprofessional roles that need assessment. Ericlooked at the brain-to-brain loop with howtests are ordered and the impact on use ofpathology tests at different stages of theprocess. Pathology Harmony did excellentwork here, and the work of Tim Lang looking
at minimum retesting intervals is alsoimportant. The standardisation of HbA1c isanother example of important initiatives thathave been completed and made a realdifference to quality of care.We are doing lots of relevant things and
overall the brain-to-brain loop in thelaboratory is working well.
Barnes Pathology Quality Review
This review has ten major recommendations;most of them are already things the ACB isworking hard on. Personal quality assurancestands out as a Quality Reviewrecommendation which is both important,personally sensitive and also needs carefulworking up and implementation. The BarnesReport suggests that those providing adviceshould be registered in a scheme assessing thequality assurance of the advice they are giving.We need to assess:
� Consistency of interpretative comments.� Comments written with patients in mind.� Ensure care is taken about language used
in reports.� Give advice about how to add tests on to
requests.
Personal Proficiency Leadsto Testing TimesJonathan Berg, Editor
Dr Ian Barnes spoke at Focus about personalproficiency. To hear his talk click on the photo
14 | Current Topics
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
Certainly poor language on reports whethercomputer generated or personally added suchas “compliance” needs to be questioned.
Demonstrating Competency
� Scope of working: We do need to havedetailed the responsibility of the individualbefore we can properly assess competency.
� Demonstrating knowledge: Recent examsuccess and participating in EQA can beuseful evidence here.
� Life-long learning: Here CPD participation,annual appraisal and also reflective writing on when things go wrong are allimportant.
� Evidence of continued serviceimprovement: Certainly this demonstrates a key element of the role of medical andscientific staff in the laboratory.
� Leadership: Clearly an important role andoutputs such as success in accreditation andother elements are all evidence for this.
� Teaching: Feedback from those that youtrain can be important.
The 360 appraisal for medical staff is now animportant component of indicatingproficiency. The criticism of seeking out 12happy people to write about you is overcomein that if you have an issue in yourprofessional work then 12 is a large number ofpeople to find!If people regularly phone you up for advice
it is of course a marker of proficiency and canbe used as evidence. Eric believes the wayforward in all this should be in a spirit ofpersonal development and being supportiverather than offering punitive measures. Timeconstraints have to be overcome and of coursethere are financial pressures of the timeneeded. Appraisal needs to change for manyof us. It very much depends on theorganisation that you are part of and howrelevant appraisal is to our future needs. The interpretative comments EQA schemes areuseful but would need to change both indelivery and content for it to be relevant asone of the components used to assessprofessional proficiency.
Personal Proficiency and You . . .The discussion paper about this got over 200responses to the College and clearly there isreal interest in all this from colleagues. Eric’sview is it is much better for us to shape thefuture of personal proficiency rather thanhaving this imposed by outsiders. Most of uscan demonstrate personal proficiency withease. One benefit is that the exact roles andthe inputs that medical and scientific staffhave in the pathology environment should be much clearer.
Current Comments Scheme NotAppropriate for FutureEric’s talk generated much debate, and inparticular the challenges of the EQA schemewere considered and this included the issue ofshould ‘individual only’ replies be considered.At present the EQA scheme has a real role intraining as groups of staff discuss the answersand laboratories often put in consensusreports.The Barnes Review suggests that we need
individual assessment but there is a real issuewith specialists and how to assess. We need tomove away from the ‘weird and wonderful’and ensure that the clinical questions areactually relevant to our current practice. Somefeel that results that come back seem to markyou down for one or two words that you haveput in your own reply that may be inconsistentwith the model answer. The concern is howthis tool would be used and it can be verystressful if you have an individual entry and aresubmitting returns that result in poor scores.Eric feels we need radical changes before the
current scheme could be used as an assessmenttool. Moving to a multiple-choice style andgetting away from scores based on writtensummaries may overcome present issues andalso lend itself to a more automated systemable to deal with significant increases inparticipants. The audience certainly felt thatgetting involved in this area at an early stagehas been important work by the Association.One further comment is that we need toconsider those with disabilities such as dyslexiawhen setting up schemes. �
Meeting Reports | 15
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
The Spring ACB Scotland Meeting took placewithin the beautiful grounds of the 18thCentury Dunniker House Hotel in Kirkcaldy,Fife. The focus of this meeting was Point OfCare Testing (POCT), an important and rapidlydeveloping area of clinical science. The dayalso provided an excellent opportunity fornetworking for fellow participants, industrialrepresentatives and speakers. The morning session was chaired by Dr Joy
Johnstone and began with a talk from JudithStrachan, Dundee detailing the use of POCTlactate and potassium in the ITU setting.Discussion focused on results from a fifteenday study comparing potassium and lactateresults from POCT devices versus laboratoryanalysis. Judith explained that there was no
statistically significant difference betweenresults generated from this equipment.Although very reassuring, it was alsoacknowledged that there are still challengesfacing POCT including costs, staffing and anever increasing workload. Tony Cambridge of Plymouth discussed
lessons learnt from Derriford Hospital, a POCTCPA accredited laboratory. Tony emphasisedthat accreditation is possible to achieveproviding there is sufficient governance andcontrol of the entire service, encompassing afull audit programme. He emphasised theimportance of the POCT team in engagingwith all users and providing adequate trainingfor them, whether they are based on-site or off-site.
Point of Care Testing inKirkcaldyHarriet Allison, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Shona Hyman and Dr Michael Murphy
16 | Meeting Reports
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
Jim Allison, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary gavean excellent summary of results from a POCTsurvey which was completed by service usersacross Scotland. In total, 354 people completedthe survey from 10 health boards, representing1000 separate POCT services. Results showedthat where low compliance is seen with POCTclinical governance, this was affected by laboversight, but was independent of regions orprimary and secondary healthcare. Jimsuggested that using a common datamanagement system for all POCT servicesoffered by a laboratory, and monitoring resultsin real-time would vastly improve compliancewith clinical governance.
Keep Well Project
The afternoon session was chaired by DrMichael Murphy and began with a talk fromShona Hyman, Dundee on ‘POCT in the KeepWell Project’. The main vision of this projectwas to ‘increase the rate of healthimprovement in deprived communities byenhancing primary care services to deliveranticipatory care’, which includes homelesspopulations and individuals with an addictionto substance misuse. These people are invitedto a health check that includes a screen forcardiovascular risk factors. Despite some of thechallenges faced by this project, it hasimpacted positively on health improvementfor those living in deprived communities. Dr Gemma Gallacher from Lanarkshire
presented an informative talk on POCT ketone measurement in paediatrics. Gemmadiscussed the use of a POCT blood monitoringsystem for elevated ketone levels, namely ß-hydroxybutyrate, the predominant bloodketone in DKA. Gemma was involved in theintroduction of a pilot study investigating theuse of this POCT device in a paediatric setting,explaining that initial findings suggest overuseof this test.
Shaping the Future
The final talk of the day, given by Dr GrahamBeastall CBE, focused on ‘Shaping the Futureof Laboratory Medicine’. Graham provided afascinating and all-encompassing look at thefuture of the healthcare system, highlightingthe need for continual improvement in qualityand clinical effectiveness. He explained thatsome of the drivers for change includeglobalisation, technological advances andintegrated diagnostics. In order to respond tothese changes, greater harmonisation inlaboratory medicine is needed as well asinnovation in methods, biomarkers and servicedelivery. Drawing this excellent meeting to anend, Graham finished with an inspiring quotewhich sums up perfectly the take homemessage of his presentation - ‘Change will notcome if we wait for some other person orsome other time. We are the ones we’ve beenwaiting for. We are the change that we seek’(Barak Obama). �
Training Matters | 17
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
All individuals who are successful in the STPscheme and who started their training afterOctober 2013 will automatically receive thecertificate of attainment required forprofessional registration by the Health andCare Professions Council (HCPC). However asthe STP scheme was not accredited prior tothis, the 2012 cohort of trainees will also berequired to be assessed for equivalence toensure the consistency and quality of training. To complete the STP the following three
components must be fulfilled:
� Completion of all required assessments andcompetences on the Online Learning andAssessment Tool (OLAT) to a satisfactorystandard.
� Achieve a pass status for the ObjectiveStructured Final Assessment (OSFA).
� Achieve a pass status for the academicmasters programme in clinical science fromthe relevant institution.
Throughout the programme trainees havebeen assured that the process of equivalencewould not necessitate any additional inputfrom them other than the standardrequirements for completion of the STP.Following successful completion of all
components of the STP a certificate ofcompletion is issued from the National School
of Healthcare Scientists (NSHCS), this will alsobe communicated to trainees by email. To enter into the equivalence assessment theThe Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS)obtains permission from each trainee (and £30admin fee) to carry out a further review oftheir OLAT portfolio to ensure demonstrationof the appropriate skills and knowledge in linewith the STP curriculum and learningoutcomes. Satisfactory review of OLAT thenwill result in the trainee being issued with acertificate of equivalence which is required forregistration by the HCPC. A pass list of trainees is also passed on to the HCPC to confirm candidate eligibility.Individuals will then be required to apply forHCPC registration via usual application formroute.Feedback of this process from the 2011
cohort has been positive and trainees receivedregular communication and updates withregards to their progress. Hopefully theprocess for trainees from the 2013 cohort willbe even more streamlined, as theyautomatically receive a certificate ofattainment, making timelines for gainingprofessional registration more transparent for both trainees and potential employers. �
Understanding theEquivalence Process to HCPCRegistrationJennifer Hersey, South West London Pathology
18 | Crossword
ACB News | Issue 628 | August 2015
Last month’s solution
Across 8 Liver on tap gets reconstructed
blood vessel (6,4)9 Meet an objection (4)10 Disallow around four being
uncooperative (8)11 Firm’s request to return faulty
solar cells without loss (6)12 Ill humour about perennials
lacking rain (6)14 Cell stabiliser compound released
during lipolysis (8)15 Charge carriers exploding:
endless noise (4)17 Duck down (5)19 Short drive in Nash-Healey’s
Pininfarina (4)
20 Deadliness is initial trainingobjective before team meets town (8)
22 Very soft tale about smallprogram (6)
24 Reported delay of some gravity (6)
25 Eager to leave unorthodoxvegetarianism to get essential nutrients (8)
27 Information elucidating first cell structure (4)
28 Biochemicals could treat penniless dipsomaniacs (10)
Down 1 Record currency (4)2 More than effective for
holding gas (6)3 Confederation properly
organized like a clan – no king (8)
4 Nothing more than a small lake (4)
5 Generally dissipated, lacking all vigour (6)
6 Snap up inclusion of doctor carefor gland (8)
7 One noted clue misconstruedgene component (10)
13 Hotpot with 4 ingredients usedmeasuring device (10)
14 How one might feel after a few 19s (5)
16 Painful rash, legs and shinunusually affected (8)
18 Response invoked by originalcreation (8)
21 Train about variable first holdingplace for documents (2-4)
23 Abrasive sorting outcomputerising mistake (6)
25 One in front is conceited (4)26 Denial of French connection (4)
ACB News CrosswordSet by RugosaWhat About Anonymous Postcards?The feedback postcards are certainly turning into a really goodcontinuous feedback system. They are coming back all the time and wenow review them each month at our quality meeting. We clearly statethat anonymous cards will be disregarded and have thought about thatcarefully. Sometimes people write quite strong comments but thatneeds to be supported with a name and contact details or we disregardthem for all sorts of reasons.
Situations Vacant | 19
To advertise your vacancy contact:ACB Administrative Office,
130-132 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TUTel: 0207 403 8001 Fax: 0207 403 8006 Email: [email protected]
Deadline: 26th of the month prior to the month of publicationTraining Posts: When applying for such posts you should ensure that appropriate supervision and training support will be
available to enable you to proceed towards HCPC registration and the FRCPath examinations. For advice, contact your Regional Tutor. The Editor reserves the right to amend or reject advertisements deemed unacceptable to the Association.
Advertising rates are available on request.
Issue 628 | August 2015 | ACB News
DEPARTMENT OF BLOOD SCIENCES, ROYAL BLACKBURN AND BURNLEY GENERAL HOSPITAL
Consultant Clinical ScientistBand 8c
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust provides a range of health care services primarily for the peopleof East Lancashire (with a population of 530,000), comprising the Boroughs of Blackburn withDarwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale. Our vision is to be widelyrecognised for providing safe, personal, and effective patient care.
An enthusiastic registered Clinical Scientist (Biochemistry) is sought to join the existing friendlyteam including a Consultant Clinical Scientist, 3 Consultant Haematologists, 48 BMS staff andsupport staff. The laboratory is housed in modern, well equipped facilities with a central facilityat the Royal Blackburn Hospital and multi-disciplinary Essential Services Laboratory on the BurnleyGeneral Hospital site. The Department is CPA Accredited and has been offered/is transitioning toUKAS Accreditation.
The successful candidate will share responsibility for the clinical service provision and will lead thepoint of care testing service.
For more information call Dr Kathryn Brownbill on 01254-734153.
To apply visit www.jobs.nhs.uk quoting reference 435-Q636-15. Closing date for applications is 4th September 2015.
