THEY may never be seen by a patient, yet hundreds of ‘unsung heroes’ at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals ensure that they receive the best possible care.

As part of National Healthcare Science Week, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford has been celebrating celebrating the outstanding work of its healthcare scientists.

Healthcare Science Week – ends today (Friday, March 15) – raises awareness of the diverse careers in healthcare science with the aim of inspiring the scientific workforce of the future.

There are more than 300 healthcare science staff working across a range of specialisms at SaTH including audiology, medical physics, medical engineering, pathology and fertility.

Their work includes developing cancer treatments, helping to create families, diagnosing what is making a patient ill, repairing vital medical equipment such as kidney dialysis machines; and matching blood against the clock to provide a life-saving transfusion.

Jason Kasraie is consultant clinical embryologist and andrologist at SaTH – and also the Trust’s lead scientist – said: “Healthcare Science Week is a great opportunity for us to celebrate the amazing work of the healthcare science workforce at SaTH.

“People working in healthcare science don’t often get the chance to talk about the work they do and the difference they make to people’s lives, so it is a great to be able to showcase the vital role they play in patient care, diagnosis and treatment.

“There are many different kinds of scientists working in the NHS, and they are not just wearing white coats and working in a laboratory. They are working in audiology and are out in the community checking people’s hearing; they might be in embryology and helping people to have the family they have always wanted or they might be a medical physicist helping to develop cancer treatments.

“Healthcare scientists can start as school leavers who begin at associate and practitioner level to graduates who can come in as bio medical scientists, or post graduates who can come in on a training scheme which can ultimately lead to them becoming a consultant clinical scientist. There are a huge variety of careers and paths to follow.”