Become a Healthcare Scientist

Healthcare Science Practitioners play a vital role in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a huge number of medical conditions, working alongside doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

• Audiologists identify and assess hearing capacity and balance function using the latest diagnostic equipment and software applications, working with patients of all ages as part of a team, recommending and providing appropriate therapeutic rehabilitation and management.
• Cardiac Physiologists diagnose and treat patients with heart or cardiovascular disease. They carry out ECGs, blood pressure measurements, tilt-table tests, exercise tolerance testing and echocardiograms. They assist in cardiac catheterisation as part of a multidisciplinary team who perform angiograms and interventions such as stents. They are also part of the multidisciplinary team that implant and programme devices to treat heart rhythm abnormalities such as pacemakers.
• Medical Engineers have a hands-on role in patient safety working with the introduction, testing, service, repair and decommissioning of Electro-Medical Equipment and Devices. These devices are used in all types of patient treatment from anaesthesia in operating theatres to life support and monitoring in critical care units to general monitoring and diagnostics in all kinds of general patient settings.
• Neurophysiologists investigate the functioning of the nervous system and the conditions that affect it, such as stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, dementia, and nerve and muscle dysfunction, carrying out investigations in dedicated environments or departments, such as intensive care settings and operating theatres, working with patients of all ages
• Nuclear Medicine Technologists use isotopes and various forms of radioactive pharmaceuticals to diagnose and treat many diseases, including different types of cancers, heart disease, gastrointestinal, endocrine and neurological disorders. 
• Radiotherapy Physics dosimetrists plan patients’ radiotherapy treatments using advanced concepts and methodologies. Dosimetrists can also work to produce immobilisation devices for use during radiotherapy, perform quality control on the equipment used to deliver radiotherapy, or work in brachytherapy.
• Rehabilitation Engineers build and test a range of both custom-made and standard assistive technologies including wheelchairs, artificial limbs, robotic aids, and specialist seating. They use mapping systems, goniometers, inclinometer, joystick controllers and programmers and work with prosthetics.
• Respiratory and Sleep Physiologists diagnose and treat people with respiratory disease and sleep-related breathing disorders, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. They contribute to the assessment of patients’ fitness for surgery and other treatments and see patients from other specialities like cardiology, surgery and oncology.

You can become a healthcare scientist by studying the undergraduate NHS Practitioner Training Programme (PTP) here at Swansea University. Our PTP degrees are full-time, 3-year programmes, which lead to an approved and accredited degree in cardiovascular or respiratory and sleep sciences, audiology or neurophysiology, radiotherapy physics or nuclear medicine, or medical engineering or rehabilitation engineering.

The Practitioner Training Programme programmes at Swansea University are full-time programmes and take three years to complete. The programmes combine theoretical, practical and simulated teaching and learning with roughly 50 weeks of workplace-based training in the NHS. In the first year, training is broad, and in the second and third years you specialise in the areas of interest to you.

The Practitioner Training Programmes aim to provide undergraduate degrees that; are science-based, develop patient-centred skills and knowledge in an area of healthcare science; and enable learners to fulfil the function of a Healthcare Science Practitioner.

Entry requirements for our healthcare science degree courses can be found on our healthcare science course pages and depends on the specialism you are interested in will change the subject mix we need to ensure you will be successful whilst studying with us.

You can find each course entry requirements here:

• Healthcare Science (Audiology), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Audiology), Part-time, BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Cardiac Physiology), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Medical Engineering), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Medical Engineering), Part-time, BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Neurophysiology), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Nuclear Medicine), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Radiation Physics), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Radiotherapy Physics), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Rehabilitation Engineering), BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Rehabilitation Engineering), Part-time, BSc (Hons)
• Healthcare Science (Respiratory and Sleep Physiology), BSc (Hons)

Once you have graduated from the programme you will be a qualified Healthcare Science Practitioner and you will be eligible to apply for professional registration:

Graduates will be eligible to apply for Professional Standards Authority (PSA) Accredited Voluntary Registration via the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS), as well as the Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists (RCCP), or Register for Clinical Technologists (RCT)

By successfully completing an accredited healthcare science degree, you will have proven the knowledge, skills and behaviours in applied scientific techniques within a discipline or related disciplines, to work in a range of healthcare settings as a Healthcare Science Practitioner. You will have a clearly defined role in the delivery of investigations and interventions for patients and technical reporting of quality-assured tests on patients, patient samples and medical equipment. In a number of disciplines, Healthcare Science Practitioners provide therapeutic interventions, some of which are specialist.

You can find more information about the Practitioner Training Programme from the National School of Healthcare Science.

Irish nationals and those with settlement status are eligible for the NHS Bursary. This includes both students from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (by the Common Travel Area arrangement).  Find out more about applying to Swansea University as an Irish student and the NHS Wales Bursary Irish Student Guidance FAQ Complete PDF.