Finding an IBMS Verifier

The IBMS would like to thank our members for everything you have been doing to help with the Registration Training Portfolio verifications since the summer of 2022. The Education Team have been able to reduce the waiting times from a verification request to the verification taking place to approximately two months (as indicated in the Guidance documents) in most cases, unless there are specific issues with the laboratory, trainee availability, or the verifier cancels the verification at short notice.

Recently, the IBMS Education Team have come across several instances where a verification has taken place without them being informed. This has meant that we do not have a record of the verification date or verifier details logged on our systems. This causes issues and delays with the verification process while the issues are resolved. Further, as the IBMS is the body approved by the HCPC to deliver the four routes to registration as a biomedical scientist, we need to be able to demonstrate our organisation and quality assurance processes for all assessments.

If Training Officers, Laboratory Managers or Practice Educators wish to encourage verifiers to come forward, you can find and nominate a verifier but the assessment cannot be organised outside the normal IBMS processes and procedures. An IBMS Registration Training Portfolio Verification Request Form must be submitted.

If a verifier is identified by the training laboratory, their details and the details of the candidate should be emailed to registration@ibms.org to be logged and updated on our system BEFORE any verification date is set. The Education Officers will log the details and coordinate with the verifier and training officer to confirm the readiness of the candidate for assessment and choose a date that suits them for the assessment. Once this information is logged on the IBMS database, the verification can take place and the Education Team will know when to expect the verifier report and laboratory report on the verifier to also log with the case.

The risk with not following the correct procedure is that we cannot demonstrate our assured and agreed processes to the HCPC and there would be then a theoretical risk that we would lose our ability to register new biomedical scientists using our routes to registration. With this in mind, and in cases where a verification has taken place without the IBMS Education Team being notified, Education Officers will seek an explanation of why this has happened and ask that this does not to happen again. If this happens a second time, our Head of Education will contact the training officer and verifier to ask them to explain why.

The third step will be that the training officer in the laboratory will be informed that any future completed verifications that are not recorded on IBMS systems will be null and void, and will need to be completed by an IBMS organised verifier. This will ensure that all verifications are organised independently by the IBMS - ensuring that they are impartial and robust assessments.

We hope that you understand why we must insist on this approach, and we appreciate your continued support.