Behind every safe scan: life as a quality assurance specialist

Meet Scotland's first STP trainee in pharmaceutical science

I'm Jonathan, a Quality Assurance Specialist and Clinical Scientist working in radiopharmacy. I was also Scotland's first Scientist Training Programme (STP) trainee in pharmaceutical science. No scrubs, no ward rounds. My job is making sure the medicine is right before it ever reaches a patient.

What does a quality assurance specialist do?

I check that every product we supply is the right quality for patients to use.

Radiopharmacy prepares radioactive medicines, known as radiopharmaceuticals. They're mainly used in nuclear medicine to help diagnose and monitor conditions, and some are used in treatment. Because they're radioactive and usually given by injection, there's no room for error in how they're made.

I'm part of the quality assurance (QA) team. Together with our production team and senior management, we check that everything leaving the radiopharmacy meets the standard. My week can include:

• writing and reviewing the procedures staff follow
• investigating when something hasn't gone to plan
• developing action plans to improve our processes
• testing products
• validation work to show our facilities, processes and equipment are working as they should

The variety is one of the things I enjoy most about the job.

Why is quality assurance essential to safe patient care?

It's easy to think of patient care as something that happens on a ward. But a lot of what keeps patients safe happens behind the scenes, long before they arrive for their appointment.

When a patient receives a radiopharmaceutical, they and their clinical team are trusting that it's exactly what it should be. QA is how we earn that trust. Clear procedures mean everyone works the same way, every time. Investigations help us understand why something went wrong, so it doesn't happen again. Validation gives us evidence, not assumptions, that our equipment is doing its job.

Quality also isn't something one person delivers alone. I work closely with colleagues across the NHS in nuclear medicine, regional quality assurance, pharmacy and other radiopharmacies.

Right now, I'm helping develop a new radiopharmacy facility. It's being set up to meet current regulations and will help us keep improving the service we provide for patients.

My route into radiopharmacy

My path wasn't a straight line.

I first heard about the NHS STP while studying chemistry at university. I knew I wanted a career in science, but I wasn't sure how to get there. The training programme looked like the natural next step.

After my chemistry degree, I completed a master's in stratified medicine. When I finished, there were no posts in the specialisms that matched my experience. So I looked to industry instead, and became a quality control (QC) lab technician at a biotechnology company.

That job became the foundation for everything that followed. I gained hands-on experience of good manufacturing practice in analytical chemistry labs. I raised deviation records when processes went wrong, investigated why, and took part in validation work on equipment. I did well and progressed within the company.

That left me with a choice: stay in industry, or go back to my plan of joining the NHS training programme?

After talking it through with my family, I left my QC role for a post in an NHS clinical genetics lab, aiming to move into the STP from there. In time, an STP post in pharmaceutical science came up, which fitted much more closely with my industry experience. I applied, was successful, and became Scotland's first STP trainee in the specialism.

What's the Scientist Training Programme like?

The STP is a 3-year programme that combines work-based training with study. For me, that meant rotations across different areas of the specialism, building a portfolio, regular assessments from my supervisors and completing a master's degree with the University of Manchester.

It's demanding, but everything you learn links back to real work in real services. When I finished, I was able to register as a clinical scientist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and moved into my current QA role in radiopharmacy.

Looking back, my time in industry made a big difference. Because I already understood how quality systems worked, I had a clear idea of where I wanted to be, and it helped me progress through the training.

My advice if you're thinking about this career

• Find a role that genuinely interests you. When you care about the work, it's much easier to stay motivated through training and setbacks.
• Make a career plan. Research the roles and experience that lead to where you want to end up. It helps you recognise the right next step when it comes along.
• Learn from knock-backs. Not every application will be successful, and that's OK. Treat each one as a chance to develop.
• Be patient. The right role can take time to appear, and you might need to take a sidestep first. Mine took me through a biotech lab and a genetics lab before I found my place in radiopharmacy, and each step moved me closer to the career I wanted.