Dear all
The following is an extract from an e-mail from a colleague following a discussion of the Registration presentation at the ipem meeting in york earlier this year.
"Further to the agenda item at our last section meeting (including the glib comments that floated around as a result) and from the document circulated by MS on that item I feel it necessary to put pen to paper again on what seems to me to be as productive a process as putting a cat flap in an elephant house as a method of ingress and egress for the aforementioned pachyderms.
It seems to me that this process of registration is not, as those who would seek to introduce it maintain (no pun intended), to "help the patient" (I thought this was everybody's responsibility anyway), but rather to enhance their own profile. It appears to me to be an exercise in self importance. The phrase "an ounce of pretension is worth a tonne of manure" springs conveniently to mind.
For example, surely the repair of............lets say for instance....................... just picking at random you understand.................... pressure relief equipment, yeah, that's a good example, does not require to be carried out by a person in possession of a BSc? Or should it? At the moment the repair of pressure relieving equipment in our area is carried out by two staff, one whose highest qualification is a welding certificate (handy eh?) and the other who has a plethora of certificates none of which are worth the paper they are printed on or bear any relevance to the role he carries out. Should patients be concerned? The repair of this equipment is carried out unsupervised, improvements to the service have been suggested and implemented by these two "unqualified" (according to IPEM) personnel, as has training to both technical and clinical staff, and the delivery of the service has continued to improve despite these "non technologists" being in post. I am not aware that any serious concerns have been raised by either technical or clinical staff as to the "fitness for purpose" (is John Reid back in charge of the NHS?) of these two employees. Or maybe there has been? Surely if AfC, and the resulting KSF that will emerge from individual job descriptions as a result of this, is successful (and properly managed) there should be no reason for an additional system of competence to be put in place? It should be up to individual employers within the healthcare system to make the judgements necessary to ensure that they are employing staff at a sufficient level of competence for the task required. It should be added, before any concerns are raised, that not only was appropriate in house training received on all systems used by our hospital, but that additional training has been received from manufacturers on any subsequent systems introduced.
I have not been backwards in investigating how this issue would affect the service that I (and my colleague) are responsible for (and proud of) delivering. Going so far as to look into the "grand parenting" arrangements under the voluntary registration guidelines. Misinformation, misunderstanding and rumour (the three pillars of wisdom in healthcare it would appear) have been my findings. "We'll get shafted" they cry, "You won't have to worry about that" I hear, "It's the future, trust me" is another. Oh and my personal favourite "It doesn't bother me, I'm retiring". Well, I'm not retiring, I'm not intending to go elsewhere and I've got another 20 years (at least) to go (under present conditions of service), so it would be nice (and surely good practice) to have an informed debate on this subject. Will there be "hoops to jump through"? Will these hoops be moved while we are in the process of jumping through them? Will the hoops be on fire (a la a motorcycle display team)?. Is it worth going on a voluntary register if transfer isn't guaranteed? Obviously not, would seem to be the answer to that one. Will I only need to gain registration if I am applying for another job in healthcare or will I need to be registered to continue in my current role. "
I am posting this to start a debate and to attempt to get a feeling for how others within the EBME community feel. Being so far north we have little contact with others in the community and have no idea how registration is viewed through out the country.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you do not wish to post your thoughts
