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Associate Practitioners
Associate practitioner is a role that is seen as undertaking new roles and responsibilities undertaken by registered practitioners in the future pathology skill mix.
According to the Healthcare Science Career Pathway "an associate healthcare scientist performs a wider range of clinical, scientific or technical procedures (that may have been previously performed by a regulated practitioner) but usually under the direction of an appropriately regulated practitioner."
Associate practitioners will form a significant part of the professional spectrum alongside biomedical and clinical scientists, pathologists and laboratory assistants. The associate practitioner is graded at Agenda for Change band 4 having attained foundation degrees, BTEC higher national diploma or equivalent awards. It is anticipated that associate practitioners could make up 25% of the NHS pathology workforce with formal training and qualifications through NVQ or foundation degree, and could become fully-fledged biomedical scientists by completing accredited biomedical science courses.