Eagle,
From the 'predicament' you describe, I can only assume that a proportion of your much valued apprenticeship and experience may have been considered somewhat irrelevant for inclusion on the Voluntary register and that you did not meet the experience criterion. If, as you say, you just meet the criterion then what is the problem? Just join and forget about it. You've obtained a decent grade even if you now 'only just meet the criterion' - I know a lot of well qualified, experienced technicians that are on MTO3 grades with many years service, actually in the NHS, and good qualifications.
It is so easy to come, well qualified, from a well established industry into a newly developing profession and then complain about it being a bit 'mickey-mouse' or a bit of 'a club'. If you were to look at the history and development of the aviation industry you would probably see that it too was elitist in it's selection of professionals at the early stages and continues to be so. Now it is throwing these professionals on the scrap-heap because demand has dropped-off. Perhaps EBME has taken a few on in the past?
If there wasn't such a skill shortage,nationally, I doubt that without relevant experience - I mean hands on medical equipment servicing in the clinical environment, not just repairing electronic instrumentation for example, that you would have even been shortlisted for your current job-role. The Whitley rules have always stated certain qualifications and experience for your grade and one should expect the new system of grading and other initiatives such as registration to set appropriate minimum standards. Some managers have tended to let these 'minimum standards' slip and been prepared to take a risk/train new starters with qualifications but no relevant experience.
The only way forward, if state registration comes along, is to become registered if you want to make a go of it in this 'career' you've chosen; even if it is 'elitist' and you're bothered that you're no longer in that 'elite'. Not sit there harping-on about an apprenticeship or experience whose training and skills, beyond basic engineering/engineering are bound to be irrelevent to EBME services i.e. you're probably never going to use much of what you learned or used previously.
With quite a few years in this job, the formal NHS Medical Physics Technician training, various higher qualifications, a wide range of experience, etc, I couldn't expect to walk into an office at BAE Systems and insist on the 'generic working grade job', perhaps working as a technician on avionics test, insist on better than the 'going-rate' salary, professional membership of whatever institute, etc, etc, based on my EBME experience, without being laughed out of the place. Not without having to put a few years in and learn new skills. Why should it work the other way around?
If I did have to change my career I expect that I'd have to eat a bit of humble pie, start at the bottom again, and try to work my way through the system by playing it to my advantage if I could. I see it as jumping through hoops - I don't like it and I'm not good at it but we all have to do it at some time.
I'm not against registration in principle, but the bods at the top have got to come down off their high horses.
So have some of the lesser experinced biomeds - that's 'the pot calling the kettle black' that is!
