Career

Hi,i'm really interested in science, but I don't want to do medicine I want to do biomedical or Biochemistry, but my dad says that I won't make a living from it
Does anyone have advice for me please

Hi,i'm really interested in science, but I don't want to do medicine I want to do biomedical or Biochemistry, but my dad says that I won't make a living from it
Does anyone have advice for me please

Hi!
I'm a biomedical scientist in the NHS but switching into study medicine (2024 entry). The salary was not great as a biomedical scientist (£28,000 starting) until you have completed extra certifications (specialist portfolio -> £35,000-40,000) and on the top end (higher specialist portfolio -> £43,000-50,000) (all of these certificates must be gained on top of your degree and can take a few years to get).
If you do do this and only take one thing from this and decide to do biomedical - please make sure your degree is IBMS accredited or it is very difficult to get in as a biomedical scientist. I have friends paying out of their own pocket even though they did a biomedical degree so they can get the correct type of degree.
As for the doctor the salary is not good initially (approx £30,000 starting) but it increases slowly and a lot once you are more senior (after 8-10 years you can get £80,000-100,000). Another alternative that is decent paying is could do a biomedical degree and do going through the STP programme going in as a clinical scientist specialising in biochemistry by the NHS - you get to do a Masters and pays after the 2 year training is a salary of approx £50,000. This programme is quite hard to get into though (although so is medicine).
Don't forget though you could also combine the two - some medical doctors specialise in biochemistry! Both medicine and the clinical scientist positions are competitive though! Overall - you can make a career from biomedical and biochemistry, but it definitely is not as lucrative as a medical doctor.
Regardless, my best advice to you is that it might be a good idea to do work experience with all three a medical doctor, a biomedical scientist and a clinical scientist so you get an idea of what day-to-day work is like and ask them about the role and salary directly.
This should help clear stuff up and show you and your parents the benefits of each!
Best of luck!

Hi! I am curious about BMS as I intend to do a degree in BMS. I wanted to know what the process was like for you to become a biomedical scientists (doing your portfolio etc) and what the job was like for you. I'm a bit apprehensive with the career options studying BMS as I know many people struggle to find jobs within the field and many are stuck doing MLA jobs for a while even a few years.
I wanted to ask, If I choose to become a medical editor/ integrity research specialist (someone who looks at journal articles), do I need to have HCPC registration or is that for biomedical scientists in the NHS? Also do biomedical scientist who work under private labs (I think there are a few across the UK, but, I am not 1005 sure) need the HCPC registration as well?
As you mentioned you are switching to study medicine (congrats btw) is there anything that you liked/ didn't like about working as a BMS and the degree itself.
Is there any tips or advice you have for anyone looking to study/ work as a biomedical scientists?
Thank you.

Hi! I am curious about BMS as I intend to do a degree in BMS. I wanted to know what the process was like for you to become a biomedical scientists (doing your portfolio etc) and what the job was like for you. I'm a bit apprehensive with the career options studying BMS as I know many people struggle to find jobs within the field and many are stuck doing MLA jobs for a while even a few years.

I wanted to ask, If I choose to become a medical editor/ integrity research specialist (someone who looks at journal articles), do I need to have HCPC registration or is that for biomedical scientists in the NHS? Also do biomedical scientist who work under private labs (I think there are a few across the UK, but, I am not 1005 sure) need the HCPC registration as well?

As you mentioned you are switching to study medicine (congrats btw) is there anything that you liked/ didn't like about working as a BMS and the degree itself.

Is there any tips or advice you have for anyone looking to study/ work as a biomedical scientists?

Thank you.

Hi. I’m a Band 5 BMS in a haematology and blood transfusion lab.
One thing I’d just add to the above post is that if you do want to be a BMS then finding a degree that incorporates a placement year would be super helpful. I did a placement year where I did the registration portfolio and when I was in my final year had no trouble lining up a band 5 job for when I graduated and was added to the HCPC register. Or I believe there’s a Healthcare Science degree that leads straight to joining the HCPC register.
I love my job and where I work! Haematology does the full blood count analysis and coagulation screens, I also examine and report blood films, often referring them to the haematology doctors. We have specialised benches such as special coagulation (which I’m currently being trained on), haemoglobin electrophoresis and flow cytometry. Blood transfusion we deal with a lot such as Major Haemorrhages in trauma cases, so it can be super busy. I also do a lot of different shifts as we are 24/7, so I’m often working with just one other person on a night shift.
Hope this helped, and good luck!

Hi!
It's good to see you are asking the right questions and early before getting in. A lot of people get caught out, so I am glad for you doing your due diligence.
Please bear in mind my views are only based off of my minimal time there (<2 years) and only based off clinical biochemistry. There are many other different departments and this may give a completely different experiences! Microbiology and Haematology and Histopathology etc. seem vastly different, so there is that to bear in mind.
Biomedical scientists need HCPC registration both for private and the NHS as it is a 'protected' job title.
I don't think a medical editor needs a HCPC registration - you can see which roles need HCPC registration you can visit
https://www.hcpc-uk.org/about-us/who-we-regulate/the-professions/
I'd imagine a medical editor should be more focused on the research aspect and therefore I think they are more concerned with your understanding of research and may be advantageous if you have a postgraduate background. I would double check with the journals themselves and their career pages. Nature journal is a good one to start with, you could email them or even researchers of journal articles themselves.
What I liked:
1.) I worked in Clinical biochemistry, main lab where it is quite automated. Here we'd do a variety of tests (all mostly on one type of machine) and it would get busy during peak times. I enjoyed being busy and working with lots of people.
2.) the managers and most of the seniors were nice in my particular lab
3.) Working cross sites, for our trust we work on two different sites. It helps make the environment feel different and you get to see different people. Although this was a double-edged sword because I had a permit on one site, but not the other and it is quite hard or costly to get parking.
4.) Following patient's results and learning new stuff (conditions, tests, etc.). A lot of this you are exposed to but it's what you go look up yourself after seeing the patient has it...
5.) Working with knowledgable people who have been there decades, they know so many interesting things from a lab perspective, science perspective and life in general.
6.) Sometimes you get to work with clinical scientists and physicians, you can learn a lot from them. Involvement with them is minimal but can be quite interesting when you do. For example when dealing with abnormal samples that need special treatment, or results authorisation.
7.) I enjoyed the degree itself and glad I chose an IBMS accredited one so it wasn't 'dead weight' in BMS applications. The degree is very similar to a biochemistry course, but just with a few modules different (related to the BMS fields). It brought in the best of both worlds for me personally. The beauty of this particular degree also is that you can switch into other fields too, you don't have to only be a BMS. Whilst other courses (like a biochemistry degree) couldn't become a BMS in biochemistry. The dissertation in final year (as occurs with most life science degrees) was quite fun, but my topic was really difficult and I was under a world renowned researcher. This might be right up your alley with your interest in medical editorials.
What I didn't like:
1.) Specialist sections in Clinical biochemistry. These are more niche areas where the workload is not as much. I despise bursts of not being busy, and felt extremely ADHD so this was not for me. However the science side for this is interesting, but as a band 5 scientist you don't get too deep into that. You'd need to become more senior or need to become a clinical scientist to be fully into the science side. You are more of the 'manual operator' of the testing
2.) Salary sacrifice in the NHS. I was paid more working in private healthcare, you'll typically get paid 10% more in private.
3.) Felt more like a 'manual operator' than a scientist. Generally felt a lack of science and research (I guess it is outside the remit of the role).
4.) I could not see myself there in 10 years time. Going in I thought the management side would be more so dealing with people and an attractive future prospect, but now it seems very procedural, updating policies, reviewing Key Performance Indicators, dealing with standard operating procedures, quality management and ISO standards.
5.) Lack of patient contact. I prefer speaking to new and lots of different types of people.
6.) My studies feel incomplete and there is so much more I feel like I want to know and learn (although not really required for the role).
Mandatory checklist
1.) IBMS accredited degree (it should say this on the course website). You can't become a BMS without it which is why many are in limbo as MLA'S for years. If there is only one thing you take from this post make sure its this. MAKE SURE YOUR DEGREE IS IBMS ACCREDITED.
2.) IBMS Generic portfolio (done in the lab) composed of questions set by the lab and evidence pieces you must collect that meet criteria set. This usually takes 1 year, you typically need a trainee BMS post and need a thumbs up from the lab for them to give you this.
3.) Not all NHS trusts are allowed to train people, but usually NHS BMS job posts will say if they can train you or not visit trac.jobs for this
Not required but wouldn't hurt
1.) if you have free time whilst at uni you could obtain work as an Associate Practitioner (AP) in the lab or a MLA in specimen reception (this will help you learn the variety of tests if dealing with something like immunology or biochemistry)
2.) If an MLA try to get promoted to an AP. You will build a reputation by doing this
3.) Work experience/visit different departments some may not sound interesting on paper but might be fun in person
4.) Understand what the bulk of the work is that you are applying to, many interviewers get offended when you don't know the work from a general perspective and you will lose to candidates who do know
What I'd do if I didn't get into medicine:
I would look at the STP programme to become a clinical scientist, you need a 2.1 bachelors degree. The programme gives you a fully-funded Masters and is a 2-year training programme by the NHS where you get paid at band 6 as a trainee clinical scientist and go to uni. I believe Uni of Manchester seems to be the hub for this rn, but you get to apply to NHS trusts outside of manchester (you just travel there for uni days). It is quite competitive but the science side seems more in depth and the candidates seem very bright.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Best of luck!

Hi! Thank you so much to the both of you for the help and taking your time to answer my questions. I appreciate it.

I did want to ask, what was uni like studying biomedical science? (I'm assuming both your degrees were accredited, pls correct me if im wrong). What was your timetable like?
I've seen that BMS degrees that aren't accredited aren't as structured in comparison to BMS degrees that are (this from things ive seen and what I heard, I don't know if this is accurate).

Do you have any tips/advice on labs? I love medical research and I like labs/looking at research but actually doing them make me anxious for some reason. Are the lab reports intense?

Thank you!

Hi! Thank you so much to the both of you for the help and taking your time to answer my questions. I appreciate it.
I did want to ask, what was uni like studying biomedical science? (I'm assuming both your degrees were accredited, pls correct me if im wrong). What was your timetable like?
I've seen that BMS degrees that aren't accredited aren't as structured in comparison to BMS degrees that are (this from things ive seen and what I heard, I don't know if this is accurate).
Do you have any tips/advice on labs? I love medical research and I like labs/looking at research but actually doing them make me anxious for some reason. Are the lab reports intense?
Thank you!