Well, I for one wasn't aware that such a profession (or group of professions, I'm not sure) even existed. So the campaign kinda works I guess.
Had to Google for a definition though. I'm still not sure what activities Healthcare Science encompasses as there's no direct translation for the concept (in Brazil at least).
Over here a lot of these activities would require a full medical grade. In other words, you'd need to be a fully-fleged M.D. to perform many of the tasks, though that's being contested now that there's a "Medical Actions" Act being debated in parliament.
Others would require different university diplomas, like Biochemestry (which is way harder than medicine by most accounts) or Physiotherapy (hope this is the right name).
Anyway, the reality is, I still can't see the difference between a doctor and a medical scientist in many of the cases mentioned by the NHS website. Then again, that may be because I live in a place where such distinction doesn't exist. Well, I just don't know. (and hope I'm not offending anyone if there's some sort of rivalry between the two professions)
Let's see (from the UK's NHS careers guide):
Radiography - that has to be handled by doctors here.
Pharmacy - No doctors. Pharmacists must obtain a degree in Biochemestry.
Life Sciences/Pathology - Lots of different activities here. I'm not going to comment on all of them, but it seems that most would be done by doctors too, over here.
Clinical Physiology - Mixed bunch. Some lab work is done by other professionals. Final say in diagnosis though has to be from a doc.
Physical Sciences - Most of those won't require or would indeed be better off without a doctor (medical illustrator for instance; doctors' handwriting is famously incomprehensible, let alone their drawing)
@tahrey
Hope I'm not bothering you with this - but what's
your definition of the job?
It's Healthcare Science Awareness Week after all!
