We are UHB: Susan Foster, Biomedical Scientist

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust runs Good Hope, Heartlands, Queen Elizabeth and Solihull hospitals, and Solihull community services.

I am a biomedical scientist in clinical biochemistry. My job is to aid in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of patients' conditions. So, if it comes out of the body in any way, shape or form, the job of a biomedical scientist is to analyse it, or we know someone who does!

My career in science started in January 1987.?I did my A-levels and initially wanted to be a teacher, but I didn’t get the grades I needed to get into university. When I look back now, it was a blessing in disguise because I was offered a post at Heartlands Hospital in the lab. I did a two year Higher National Certificate in medical laboratory sciences.?I went to college one day a week and the rest of my training was on the job, in the lab.?It took two years to become a state registered medical laboratory scientific officer. Back then we had a small lab, which probably handled around 1,000 samples a week. Today we're doing tens of thousands!

In my role we use scientific theories in practical ways to obtain a result, so that the clinician can interpret them. We use computers to handle thousands of patient results, which we check for accuracy before releasing into the system to arrive in the patient's notes.

By linking groups of tests, we can give an indication about how a patient's kidneys are working or their liver, heart and bones. We can test for allergies and determine how bad the reaction is, we can see how well the body is responding to prescription medication, and also test for the presence of recreational drugs. We can offer diagnostic tests for diabetes, cystic fibrosis and cancers, to name but a few.

I really enjoy my job. I love the fact that because of what I do for a living, people are still alive and their quality of life has improved; and because of the tests that we've evolved, we can detect things like cancer sooner.?It’s really rewarding to know that we get a result back, and through that the medics can give a patient a diagnosis.?It is a very interesting job, for example, recently I went to see a patient to do a sweat test, which is a diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis. The test involves giving the patient a small elongation by putting a very small electrical current through a gel with a chemical on it. The chemical forces the current into the skin which opens up the sweat glands.?I then put a collection vial on the skin, which has a very small circular tube inside it which sucks the sweat up. I collect that for 25 minutes and then decant it.?I then check the sweat sodium and sweat chloride, and from those results, we can diagnose whether they've got cystic fibrosis or not. The science is fascinating!

We also do faecal reducing substances, where we weigh out half a gram of poo, add some water,?add a chemical and that's cooked for about five minutes. It is a colour reaction that we are looking for. If it goes red, it's positive which means that the patient has an intolerance to lactose.

The lab, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. We literally never close, and the work is constantly coming in and every sample is important.?Sometimes you are working against a time limit. We are very conscious that there's a patient at the end of every sample that we receive, and we have to try and get that result out in a timely manner.

Science is always evolving. Someone is always working in the background to see if there is a quicker or less manual way of doing a test that I might have done 100 times in a day.

As a Trust we offer all sorts of training, so you are not just expected to stay stagnant. You can do so much to improve your knowledge and skillset.

Any job in the NHS is a caring career, it’s not just nursing or being a doctor. Science is a great career choice, and one you can train anybody to do.

For girls and women who don’t think science is for them, I would ask them to go and look in a lab before they close the door on it as an option.?It’s a great career, it’s constantly evolving but most of all, it is so interesting.?

My advice to anyone thinking about a career in science is to go for it! Labs are a secret part of the NHS because people don't see us very much, but without a pathology department a hospital couldn’t run.

Interested in a career in science at UHB? Find all our current jobs vacancies on our website:

www.jobs.uhb.nhs.uk