EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Registration VRCT Facts and fiction.

60 quid a year for the following -

Registration will be more expensive than membership of the Voluntary Register; each individual will be required to pay £60 per year (based on current registration fees which are tax deductible). However there are significant benefits to accrue from being registered, amongst these are: -

Each Registrant has the opportunity to contribute to the development of the profession
Clear guidance on standards of conduct, performance and ethics
Clear guidance on the expected standards of proficiency for the profession
Professional recognition by all other regulated health professionals
The protection of professional title - only those legally registered as Clinical Technologists will be able to practice as such
Protection against rogue practitioners - the HPC can prosecute those who illegally use professional titles
Regulation is independent of Government
Freedom of movement to work elsewhere with the European Economic Area


2400(so far) x £60. It's a licence to print money. Mind you, no doubt, some people are going to get paid a bob or two to oversee the register.

Cheers
Mark

The list of benefits makes interesting reading.
Fredom to work in EEA- We can do this already?
Independent of government-What are the benefits of this?
Protection of rouge practitioners-But what about people doing the same or simmilar jobs calling themselves Technicians?
Professional recognition by other regulated professionals-Nice?
Clear guidance on expected standards of proficiency-We already have this?
Clear guidance on standards of conduct-We already have this?
Registrant has the opportunity to contribute to development-We can do this now if we want to?

I think I know where "your" £10 fee goes to when you registar with the VRCT.......
It's that expensive paper used when printing your certificate!!

If enough people registar I'm sure it will become a complusory factor in the future when applying for a job.
Will this be fact or not??

If a nurse has to have PIN to work within the NHS, will we end up following suit with this VRCT?

I've only just had my first look at the HPC website.

To be honest, I can't see why we are being encourage, by who knows who, to go down this road.

Yes, protected title sounds very good.

I see that the HPC's budget for 2005-2006 is £12 million. All funded by registrants fees.

I bet the HPC isn't run from a porta-cabin.

I'd like to see a breakdown of the wages and perks of those employed by the HPC.

Jobs for the boys.

My protected title will make sure that certain individuals will have a protected job!

It's not for me.

Cheers
Mark

So, has everyone decided that for a fact the VRCT is pointless at this moment in time and holds no benefit???

Is there any point in joining IPEM, or any other relevant organisation for the likes of a EBME techie?? do any of them have any benefits of being a member??

I was just wondering if I should be think of joining IPEM or similar.

I joined the IET (what used to be the IEE) as I felt it was more suited to me as an engineer. IPEM seems to be aimed more at the Physicists.

Once a member you can register with EC(UK) as an engineer/technician. This may also help if you ever want to leave EBME! Not that I want to, but I've got 40 years of work left in me so need to keep my options open!

As far as benifits are concerned, I'm not sure. The magazines are quite good and frequent but it'll cost you more than £10.

I'm not yet eligable for VCRT due to lack of years in healthcare.

Can anyone state the exact current requirements to be eligible to join IPEM's VRCT?
Also StuC, it would be handy to post the requirements for IET / EC(UK) as mentioned above.
Topper

Considering some of the arguments put forward previously in this thread, in my opinion registration with EC(UK), i.e. CEng, IEng, EngTech, and the necessary membership of any professional institution should be considered as "pointless" as inclusion on the VRCT and membership of IPEM is.

I say this because registration and membership of a professional institution are not yet essential requirements in NHS medical engineering (maintenance) job descriptions and the roles are not being regulated at all.

When medical engineering jobs are regulated is when appropriate registration will matter - for those coming into the profession and others moving inbetween jobs, potentially. Meanwhile, following the arguments put forward already, any membership or registration is wasted money and irrelevant.

What's important if individuals' are considering registering with EC(UK) and who aspire to being considered fully qualified to practice in medical engineering is whether the EC(UK) registration is going to be recognised by the HPC as meeting all of the requirements for working in a NHS "Clinical Technologist" job-role - not just the fact that you're registered as a technician or engineer, in my opinion.

Personally speaking, at this time, I can't see that CEng, IEng or EngTech registration with EC(UK), alone, for example, are necessarily going to be acceptable for inclusion on the HPC register, if it materialises, without some evidence of minimum acceptable plus relevant experience, skills and training in medical engineering specifically.

It defeats the object of regulation of specific job-roles otherwise. Personally I wouldn't bank on registration with EC(UK) being a method of EC(UK) registered "Technicians" and "Engineers" "getting in through the HPC back door" as HPC registered "Clinical Technologists", in future, not without giving extra evidence and re-registering with the HPC.

Financially speaking membership of an institution and registration with a body that're not likely to be involved with regulation of "Clinical Technologists", if and when it does transpire, may be more of a waste of time and money than membership of the VRCT and IPEM is at the moment.

Topper to answer question, straight without waffle.
see if this link works. To ipem doc.
http://www.ipem.ac.uk/ipem_public/default.asp?id=456

Mr Ling,

I don't believe anybody ever said EC(UK) registration was a way of gaining registration with the HPC "through the back door". Those of us who can't get on VRCT will have to jump through the hoops as required when (if) registration ever comes in. Registering as an engineer/technician is something I am doing because I think it may help me in the future, not because I think it will allow me to sneak on the HPC register.