RL, you are right that the Clinical Scientist title is protected by the HPC. This means that anybody claiming to be a Clinical Scientist who is not registered with the HPC on the Clinical Scientist part of the register can be prosecuted. I too know of many registered Clinical Scientists who are not members of IPEM. Additionally I know of IPEM members who are not registered Clinical Scientists, they have to call themselves something else even though they are paid as Clinical Scientists. I even know one or two people paid as Clin Sci who are neither IPEM members nor state registered.
The title Clinical Engineer is not protected at present but practising Clinical Engineers are registered as Clincical Scientists. This may change in due course due to the increase in Clinical Engineers completing the IPEM Grade A Trainee Clincal Engineer/Scientist scheme.
I suppose the Clincal Engineer and Clinical Scientist came about to differentiate between Engineers and Physicists. Think pre IPEM when it was BES and IPSM, in those days you could be both a Chartered Engineer and a Clinical Engineer and use the designatory letters ClinEng to go with it. The latter has now vanished as not many people held that title.
