EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues VRCT renewal time

Press release on VRCT website.
It appears that the Grandparenting entry route will be closed effective 31 December 2011.

I think that Regulation, in whatever shape or form it takes is still a number of years away. I for one would be happier if this entry route remains open until a clear timetable is established.

Taken from the VRCT letter:


Does that mean that ECG technicians, Respiratory techs, Radiographers, Sonographers, Physiotherapists, ODP's and assorted lab types are Clinical Technologists? They provide "techincal Support" by operating diagnostic & therapeutic devices.

It does seem strange that the VRCT has pushed ahead with training courses etc. when they have not been given PUBLIC approval. The DoH has still not opened a consultation on this register. There has not been any debate on whether we as BIOMEDS want to be part of the VRCT or not. I've made my views clear on this subject in previous posts. If we need to be registered then the registration has to be for US and not include Sonographers, Nuclear Medicine techs and other patient facing staff who work within Medical Physics. The other big issue that concerns us nay-sayers is that the registration does not apply to non-NHS engineers/ techs.

If individual trusts demand that we be registered then why not EngTech, IEng or CEng? Makes more sense to me.

You'll probably find that IEng or CEng is probably harder to achieve than the VRCT whereas EngTech isn't even worth using as toilet paper since it's hardly listed as desirable in job posted.

Although interestingly anybody else notice the eighth paragraph in the Grandparenting closure press release? It made me smile So firstly those who don't join are cowboys and secondly this seems to be very similar to the running gag in The Simpson's where the argument comes down to 'won't somebody please think of the children!' or in this case the public I believe wikipedia defines this as a thought-terminating cliché

Knowing, as I do, how much you enjoy my comments, Chris ... I guess I had better respond.

Frankly, I find all these arguments very specious. The proposition about EngTech and toilet paper could only have come from a bloke safely secure in a tenured position!

Those of us in the Real World are retained (or not, as the case may be) depending upon our performance. That is, regardless of "professional" qualifications, or other bits of paper.

By the way ... I binned all my own C&G, ONC et al certificates years ago. Nobody ever asks for them. I find that prospective employers (and/or clients) are really more interested in whether you can actually do whatever it is they need to be done.

VRCT? It's a load of nonsense. As Bill indicates, the term "Clinical Technologist" does not encompass what we (Medical Engineering Technicians - or Biomeds for short) do. It probably sat quite well with the previous government that we suffered in the UK, but (hopefully) we have moved on a bit now.

I'm sure that those in charge of the VRCT are all Good Folk, with best of intentions, and all the rest. But (personally) I don't see the need for Biomed techs to be included or involved. As far as I can see, it's really a "Medical Physics" thing.

By the way, I haven't noticed the Rest of the World clamouring to set up their own versions of VRCT (although I may be mistaken on that point, I grant you).

I don't see why Geoff, as the fact you obviously didn't bother reading the release here and just commented on my comments just looks silly.

As for the EngTech, lets see it costs £67 to apply for and £26 a year, starts to make the VRCT look like peanuts. Then if you search on a jobs site like Reed you'll find 17 jobs that mention CEng, 1 job that mentions IEng and NO jobs that mention EngTech,why even bother with EngTech if hardly any employer recognises it? At least with the VRCT, IEng and CEng you can see some possible benefits.

Also Geoff in the last post I wasn't commenting on the benefits or disadvantages of the VRCT just pointing out that weird eighth paragraph, it's the sort that could have come out of the lips of Sarah Palin when closing an argument by calling someone unpatriotic. I mean using an argument that someone who doesn't join don't care about the public, they could have at least closed with a similar arguement that not joining the VRCT makes you less of a man!

This one, you mean:-


1) Which "profession" is being referred to, I wonder?
2) "interpreted by some" ... er, who?

Geoff, they have started here with professional registration, without it you cannot get your Iqama renewed. As would be expected here a lot of teething problems, people don't know which body to join. Me, I am classed as a medical scientist (at least that is what my visa says) I have to sort out the registration in January and for once in my life join a 'professional' (I do have better words for it) body. We will see, watch this space!

Time to hand in your toolkit, Neil, by the sound of it.

How do the Filipinos et al get on, I wonder?

But ... register with who? ... the Mutawa?

No, not yet, the main problem and you should know this from experience, is that the job title never matches that of the visa. Clerks registered as doctors, technicians registered as housekeeping etc. Recruitment done on the first available visa. If the immigration department ever gets it house in order over this issue then all would be OK, but it is a BIG IF.

Geoff, next time you call out one of the following: - the TV repairman, washing machine man, the cable guy, telephone engineer. be sure to ask for all his documentation, certificates even ask him which school he went to. Is this what the world is coming to, no trust unless you join somebodies club???