Major Healthcare Science event held in Westminster
The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee has hosted a major event in partnership with IPEM. The meeting, chaired by George Freeman MP and titled ‘‘Building a Healthcare Science Workforce Equipped to Face the Grand Challenges’’, took place in a packed House of Commons Committee Room.
The audience heard presentations from Professor Dame Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer at NHS England, IPEM President and Director of the King's College London Technology Evaluation Centre, Dr Anna Barnes and Dr Victoria Kidgell, Lead Healthcare Scientist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of IPEM's Clinical Engineering Special Interest Group. IPEM was particularly pleased to have an all women panel for the event, as it was held on International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
The meeting covered the vital role that medical physicists and clinical engineers play across healthcare, academia and industry and demonstrated this using patient stories.
Dr Barnes explained the urgent need to additional investment in training and recruitment to address growing vacancy rates across the profession. Doing so would also greatly support the development and implementation of new technology such as AI.
Dr Kidgell spoke about innovations in medical devices and technology, often led by professionals in universities and in companies, that would help to deliver more personalised care, closer to people's homes. She emphasised the strategic importance of the MPCE workforce to deliver the Government's objectives.
Dame Sue set out how medical physics and clinical engineering are part of the broader healthcare science landscape and how NHS England is working to support those professions. In particular, she said that there are great opportunities that can be provided by scientists playing a crucial leadership role and highlighted a number of healthcare science professionals in top roles from national through to local level.
There was a lively discussion, which covered areas including upskilling the workforce and how to retain staff in the NHS.
The presentations from the evening can be found on the website of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee Programme – Science in Parliament
Pictured (left to right): Dr Anna Barnes, IPEM President and Director of the King's College London Technology Evaluation Centre, Dr Victoria Kidgell, Lead Healthcare Scientist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of IPEM's Clinical Engineering Special Interest Group, Lord Mair, Parliamentary & Scientific Committee, Katherine Bunting, IPEM Director of Education & Professional Development, Chris Watt, IPEM Head of Communications & Public Affairs, Viscount Stansgate, President, Parliamentary & Scientific Committee and Dr Jemimah Eve, IPEM Director of Policy & Impact.
Photo by kind permission of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee