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VRCT Website Homepage 12 December 2012

What is happening to the Register
The VRCT panel are aware that at times it seems like there is no progress being made in having a more formal recognition of the register. The panel would like to assure Members that a number of discussions are ongoing but because of the complexities and the nature of these discussions their is a need for confidentiality. However, it is hoped to update members following the next VRCT panel meeting on December 5th

Improved services to VRCT registrants
Changes to the IPEM website and more importantly the back office management system has brought improved services to IPEM members
IPEM have been able to make some of these services available to members of the VRCT even if they are not IPEM members
One of the things that VRCT members have been wanting for some time is payment by Direct Debit and Credit Card. These features will be available in the future. Details of these enhancements and more will be available after the next Management Panel meeting on December 5th


I would be interested in the results of the Management Panel meeting on 5th December concerning the above, being posted online at the earliest opportunity.
Can someone please advise?

Sean

Over a month later, there appears to be no site update regarding what is happening to the register, or the improved services to VRCT registrants.

At this time of year when subscriptions become due, I reflect upon what has been promised, and delivered in a timely manner. Does the VRCT still broadly represent my career views and aspirations?

More to the point, does it still reflect the career views and aspirations of the majority of colleagues across the public and private sector currently employed in similar roles?

January is always a good month to take stock, and decide the appropriate way forward. A clear vision, a plan of action for the coming year needs to be embarked upon.

Change if not managed correctly, is unsettling. Likewise - the appearance of inactivity does not promote confidence.

Yes. Indeed. Very profound, Sean.

But is the VRCT not already "yesterday's news"? In that, having failed to "strike whilst the iron was hot" (or, at least, luke-warm), and by failing to articulate its mission (ideals, whatever) to a degree sufficient to excite its membership (and, probably more importantly, prospective membership), it has rather "dropped the ball". All that despite having allowed many years to pass, and opportunities to slip by.

It's time to move on, guys. As a Wise Old Dude* once said (as long ago as 1961):- always "Choose the future as against the past"!

* Peter Drücker, writing in his book "The Effective Executive"

Talking about "yesterday's news' or at least over the Christmas period did anybody catch the call for Healthcare assistants to be registered? The VRCT might have trudged on for years with what seems like no progress, but it could get a boost from this. If you need to be registered just to wipe bums and give patients water, there could be further call for registration for others.

" ... just to wipe bums and give patients water"?

If it wasn't for the HCA's there would be (even more) patients dying of thirst or laying in their own [censored]!

Engage the brain....

Yes Geoff they do a excellent job, but do they really need to be registered?

Yes ... I believe they should be. Why? Because (as far as I am aware) other health care workers who interact directly with patients are required to be registered.

Also ... to make it more difficult for rogue "carers" (aka criminals) to simply move elsewhere (to another hospital) and carry on as before.

And ... now that you have opened my eyes (ears?) to the horror stories outlined at the HCPC disciplinary hearings, Chris ... well, it seems that, sadly, not everyone is, shall we say, an "angel of mercy".

Well taking into account that a significant proportion of those HCPC reports were due to mental health issues which I'm informed can happen to 1 in 4 people and as it's been suspected with the case of Jimmy Savile, anybody working in the NHS could possibly abuse patients. Would it not call for more people working in the NHS to be registered?

Also if you notice that a small number of jobs advertised on here had a HCA component (mainly radiotherapy, but there was a post working on respiratory equipment)that worked with patients. You could get to the stage where if the VRCT didn't end up with registration, you could have some currently on it having to register as a HCA and some not.

Interesting that you mention Saville, Chris. When I was first made aware of the VRCT (c.2005) I posed the question "what about other healthcare workers who come into contact with patients like porters, domestics, phlebotomists, ward clerks etc"? Where do we draw the line? All of those jobs have much, much more contact with patients than us and have more opportunity to cause harm than we do!