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7) My previous job was a transmitter engineer for the BBC.

No.7.

1. Pulling heads off slaughtered chickens.
2. Avionics Mechanic Tornado F3's
3. Avionics Mechanic Puma & Chinook helicopters (Northern Ireland)
4. Avionics Technician Skyshadow ECM (elecrtronic countermeasures)
5. This!

Thanks Geoff I missed that.

Just to be safe, a few acronym's & military terms:

BATUS - British Army Training Unit Suffield.
MBT - Main Battle Tank.
AFV - Armoured Fighting Vehicle.
REMF - Rear Echelon (You can Guess the rest).
TEWT - Tactical exercise with troops.
OC - Officer Commanding.
CO - Commanding Officer.
IC - In Charge.
BOB - Bird or Bloke (Generally used to desribe ladies who have lady friends).
NAFFI - Navy Army Air Force Institute - a place of fine ale!
APOD - Air Point of Departure (The best place in the world after 6 months in a sandy place)
Slappers Ball - the club/pub in a garrison area where you meet local ladies.
BOBFOC - Body of Baywatch face of Crimewatch (Used at NAAFI Break on a Monday morning to discribe the young or not so young Frau you pulled on a Friday or Saturday night at the local slappers ball).
GU MED - Where you go on Tuesday Morning after being at the local slappers ball at the weekend.

There are lots more - but i am getting boring!

DW -

Indeed ... and you only got two wrong! For anybody really interested in this stuff, there are plenty of websites out there. Like this one, for instance.

Sorry to hear that RJL has gone I spent all last night crying, I have enough salt now to keep me going for years I can see a contract on the horizon with Saxa. I am a nice guy really all my friends will tell you that, but I will stick up for myself when I am insulted. I would encourage any one to do the same, I only say sorry and mean it when I am in the wrong.

Seriousley though, the point I was initially making when I joined this forum topic in around about sort of way ....is that there is room for people with transferable skills they should not be despised and they should definately be embraced in the NHS, just think of the costs saved in training them, as I have said I am one of those Ex-Service types and I needed a job when I finished serving my Country, In fact I was an apprentice Electrical Welding Engineer when I first left school and look where I am now. There have been the pioneers in all trades where there was nothing no certificates,just hard slog. Now we have one or two, three....and on trades and experts. I recognise the skills in front of me in practice not just on a sheet of paper. I am not saying do not aim to attain certificates but also aim for your own acheivements in a practical manner. I know a mathematician in westminster who can't add up so much for certificates, on their own they are worthless in my opinnion. Yes raise the standards but don't get hijacked in the process. Thank you all for an entertaining thread it is clear there are loads of us with appropriate skills which we can still use
cheers
Tim AKA "the Crippler"

I never thought that I would directly post upon these shores again so soon.

To do so may be questionable, detrimental to my civil liberties and adversely affect my chances of a date tonight.

However, I feel I can safely contribute , without harm to me or ebme, here goes ,over the last few days talking with the following cross section of folk.

Please be informed of the following:-

The talkers

16KHS techs and me
3 Scottish NHS techs
2 OEM instructors.
3 NHS EBME managers
1 Company MD
2 Healthcare managers private sector
1 Procurement manager private Sector
2 Procurement managers NHS
2 Visiting NHS techs
1 Retired NHS tech
3 Estates and facilities managers
1 Greybeard

Summary thus:-

We found the site VRCT informative and appreciated the effort, professionalism and expertise of those involved in its development.

The topic of the site was a subject of much honest debate

Becoming a clinical engineering technologist or not, being employed in our NHS or not, the use a protective title or not, gaining a relevant qualification , being regulated in our jobs

All very emotional matters we thought, like most we love our jobs, so these matters matter.

Some individuals felt they did not matter those proposing VRCT

Some thought VRCT did not matter at all.

Generally it was thought that registration process has taken so long that by the time it became mandatory the NHS might have changed so much that it may not be relevant.

A lot that deliver services of a highly specialist or specific nature into the NHS (services that those on the register are often not able or qualified to undertake according to HTM or SHTM) felt the register was strange as they in a lot of cases do not qualify for VRCT.
Some of these quite liked the idea of registration and a slot in the system for service engineers etc they felt should be provided for those that wished to be included.

Some asked will taxpayers eventually be paying droves of acedemics a small fortune to test equipment with automatic testers if in the future good hands on techs are excluded from practice.

Some pondered the legality of proposals and would folk leave to join other areas of engineering if pushed out in some way

The feedback regarding VRCT seemed to depend entirely on who you ask.

Darren

A little story about regulation and certification.

Many years ago as the "electronics expert" and general all-round “good egg” in the Med Eng Dept. I was approached by the Facilities Director (our boss at the time) to set up the Trust’s PAT testing regime.

Obviously I found out as much as I could discussed at length all the ins and outs with the Works Electricians who would be doing the testing, test equipment manufacturers and software suppliers.

Then I actually did the job for a short time to ensure the processes worked.

Apart from an electrician almost shutting the kitchens because every other item failed the tests, everything went well.

The Local Tech College contacted me and I was questioned over all the various aspects of the process which I happily answered in the interest of cooperation etc.

Recently I was talking to a gentleman who runs a small business PAT testing, he told me that a certificate proving you had received training was now required before you could do this type of work. I said “oh where did you get your training”, his reply was “at the Local Tech”.

Therefore if I wanted to take up PAT testing I would have to get a certificate from a place that based a lot of the course on what I had told them some years earlier. (And no I do not want to do PAT testing I get bored easily).

Lee

Careful now Darren, I,m sure your Nemesis is watching !!! Hows the Litigation by the way !!! Ha Ha.