Equivalence route to Licentiate

Applicants who are HPC-registered with a non-IBMS accredited qualification may apply to join as a Licentiate member via an individual assessment against the Institute's Code of Conduct.

Full guidelines including reflective logs and witness statement forms (word doc)

This guidance has been developed to enable you to become a Licentiate member of the Institute and to have access to all the benefits of corporate membership, including the Institute’s professional examinations.

The Institute assesses all applicants for admittance to each of its classes of membership (Associate, Licentiate, Member and Fellow). The standard route into Licentiate membership is through the award of a Certificate of Competence made against the completion of an accredited course of study and registration portfolio.

The Institute is aware that some HPC registered biomedical scientists who have become fully registered either through the overseas route or through the time-limited grandparenting route are not eligible for Licentiate membership. These are individuals who have a non-accredited qualification, have not completed a registration portfolio and therefore have not been awarded a Certificate of Competence but have been admitted to the register based on a full HPC assessment of previous experience.

Applicants for Licentiate membership who are in this category may wonder why the Institute does not simply recognise their full HPC registration and admit them to Licentiate. This is because the Institute is independent of the HPC and has its own standards of professional practice and Code of Conduct. In order to maintain these standards the Institute does not admit any individual to corporate membership without an individual assessment to ensure that its standards have been met.

Evidence of an IBMS awarded Certificate of Competence is one way of showing evidence that IBMS standards have been met. Individuals who do not possess a Certificate of Competence need to undergo an individual assessment to ensure its standards are met.

The following information describes the process by which non-corporate Associate members with full HPC registration (but without a Certificate of Competence) may demonstrate equivalence of competence and scope of practice to Certificate of Competence recipients and apply for admittance to Licentiate membership.

If you are following this route to Licentiate membership you will already have been assessed and registered by the HPC. The Institute takes this into account and will not require you to complete the registration portfolio or to provide a similar volume of evidence. What we do require you to do is to compile a professional portfolio against the Institute’s own standards, which you then send to the Institute for assessment.

The compilation of this professional portfolio and the assessments and verification of your competence to practice can all be undertaken in your laboratory with the help and support of your training officer or manager who must be a Fellow of the Institute or a Chartered Scientist Member. To make this process as straight forward as possible the documentation you require is all provided at the back of this guidance.

How to Compile your Portfolio

You need to put together evidence that demonstrates you meet the standards of the Institute’s Code of Professional Conduct and the threshold level of practice defined in the Institute’s Registration Portfolio.

Together, these should reflect a level and scope of professional practice and competence equivalent to that of an individual who has trained and qualified via the standard Certificate of Competence route. Integral to these criteria is your knowledge and skills relevant to your scope of practice as a biomedical scientist and the maintenance of this through continuing professional development.

The length of time to satisfactorily demonstrate equivalence of practice and compile your portfolio would normally be between six months and twelve months.

Contents of your Portfolio

Your portfolio must contain the following:

a) A personal professional profile
This is a description of your experience, your current job, the nature and range of things you do, what you have learnt and how you are developing as a professional biomedical scientist.

Personal profiles should summarise work experience prior to admittance to the HPC register and recent practice post-HPC registration. It should include references to specific work, CPD activities, personal training activities, quality control and assurance, audit and involvement in the training of other staff. This should be between 450 - 550 words long.

Example:
I registered with the HPC after qualifying to practice in Sweden where I working as a medical technician in a routine histology department. I currently work in a teaching hospital that provides a routine diagnostic service to support for a wide range of patient services.

I rotate through different sections of the laboratory including Immunocytochemistry, Electron Microscopy, Diagnostic Cytology, Breast Pathology, Cut Up and Main Laboratory. These sections relate to the laboratory investigations that aid diagnosis of tissue pathology and require different knowledge and practical skills. Rotation is linked to my post-registration training schedule which will enable me to complete the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) Specialist Portfolio in Cellular Pathology once I have obtained Licentiate membership. This is evidencing development of my specialist training so that I might be considered for a post as a specialist practitioner.

In addition to this I also act as a mentor to a clinical placement student who is completing her registration portfolio as part of an integrated degree in biomedical science. This involves me in supporting aspects of her training and guiding her on the type of evidence they might consider for her portfolio, based on my own experience.

I am actively encouraged by the department to participate in CPD activities and to meet the HPC standards using the IBMS CPD scheme My CPD activities are primarily work-based and relate to demonstrating that my knowledge has increased as my competency develops in a wider scope of practice within the laboratory. These include short essays, case studies, tutorials and witness statements. In addition to the work based learning I also undertake journal based learning which is a credited activity for CPD and include reflective learning as part of this. I have attended two Trust-wide training days: "Communication Skills" and "Team Working" as part of my personal and professional development towards becoming a recognised training officer.

I am involved in the application of health and safety procedures or quality assurance methods and contribute proactively to the quality of the service as some of the samples I test are part of external quality assurance schemes.

b) A reflective practice diary

This is designed to show how you apply your scientific and technical knowledge. To help you there are blank reflective practice sheets included with this documentation.

A reflective diary provides an opportunity for you to think back on what you have done, to identify what you have learnt, evaluate your practice in the light of this, and then to formulate action plans for improvement.

Everyone will have a slightly different approach to keeping a professional reflective diary, but the following points may provide a starting point.

It can be used to:

describe and evaluate practices, techniques or tutorials
re-evaluate something routine to see if it could be improved
develop new approaches to learning

How to write it:

don’t worry too much about writing style or presentation
try and write it regularly rather than having a major ‘catch-up’ session
try to show that you’ve thought about solutions to problems
try to show how you’ve learned from something or someone

The reflective practice sheets match the learning outcomes of an individual who has completed an accredited course of study and been awarded a Certificate of Competence. You need to complete all eight of them to demonstrate your ability to:

Work in accordance with good professional practice guidelines in partnership with other professionals, support staff, patients and service users
demonstrate a knowledge and application of health and safety requirements
undertake the correct procedures for the handling of specimens, before, during and after analysis
use the main laboratory computer system in accordance with service requirements
operate equipment used in the preparation and analysis of samples
perform a range of laboratory tests without the need for immediate supervision and demonstrate knowledge of the scientific basis for tests and the disease processes under investigation
demonstrate awareness of factors affecting sample integrity, risks associated with the sample reagents, or method and other tests indicated by the outcome of the analysis
be able to apply principles of quality control and quality assurance.

c) Signed witness statements
A witness testimony or statement is independent documented evidence of your actions, conduct or performance. These should demonstrate that you work in accordance with the Institute’s Code of Conduct.

A template witness statement for each of our standards within the Code of Conduct is provided in this documentation. Each of these must be completed by you in agreement with your training officer or laboratory manager (who must be a Chartered Scientist Fellow, Fellow or Chartered Scientist Member of the Institute) who must then sign each of these statements to confirm that they have witnessed your professional practice to verify that you demonstrate the ability to fulfil each of our standards. In the event of these individuals not being the above, the witness statements must be countersigned by a Chartered Scientist Fellow, Fellow or Chartered Scientist Member of the Institute.

The Institutes Code of Conduct requires that members:

exercise their professional knowledge and skill with judgement and care for the benefit of the wider general public and in the best interests of the users of the service
demonstrate the highest standards of conduct, honesty and integrity in their personal and professional behaviour
understand, recognise and work within the limits of their professional knowledge, skills and experience
recognise the beliefs and values of the wider general public, the users of the service and professional colleagues, treating them on a fair and equitable basis
ensure their own beliefs and values do not prejudice or compromise their ability to carry out their professional roles and duties
maintain, improve and keep up to date their professional knowledge and skills
aid and support the development of biomedical science by education or training of their professional colleagues, the users of the service and the wider general public
promote the study and activity of biomedical science by promotion of the values, aims and objectives of the Institute of Biomedical Science

Once you have completed your portfolio you should send it to the Institute for assessment along with your application for Licentiate membership – as described below.

How to Apply for Licentiate Membership

When you have completed your portfolio and your training officer or manager is satisfied that the Institute’s standards have been met you should apply to upgrade to the class of Licentiate. To do this you need to submit to the Institute:

A letter of support from your laboratory manager or supervisor, who must be a Chartered Scientist Fellow, Fellow or a Chartered Scientist Member of the Institute, detailing your scope of practice, performance and conduct in the laboratory.
A copy of your professional portfolio consisting of parts a, b and c as detailed above
A completed application form (these are available on request from the Institute office or you may download one)
An assessment fee. The fee is £30.00
A registration fee. The fee is £20.00
You will be notified when your application has been received in the Institute office and will be advised of the outcome within 4 weeks of receipt.

Further information

Download IBMS membership application form

If you have further queries on joining the Institute please contact us on + 44 (0)20 7713 0214 or mc@ibms.org.

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