EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues The Alliance for Patient Safety

You will recall that nearly 9 years ago the Health Professions Council agreed to regulate the Clinical Technologist profession; however for a number of reasons this has still not happened! The Department of Health, through the Academy for Healthcare Science, are now attempting to set up a process called assured voluntary registration. We do not agree with this. Thus on 24th April 2013 a group of organisations, including the VRCT, representing nearly 10,000 unregulated healthcare professionals will launch the Alliance for Patient Safety at the Houses of Parliament, warning MPs that a current lack of oversight over their professions is putting patients at serious risk.

The Alliance, which is made up of representative bodies of professions including clinical physiologists, clinical technologists and cardiothoracic surgical assistants, will warn MPs that current government policy means thousands of patients a year are being put at risk by being subjected to sensitive and potentially harmful procedures by unregulated professionals. The Alliance is calling for the Government to urgently subject its professionals to statutory regulation to ensure patient safety.

The Government currently encourages unregulated health professionals to establish or join voluntary registers, a number of which are maintained by Alliance members including the VRCT. The Alliance insists the policy is unfit for purpose for its professionals, with voluntary registers being ineffective and not conveying powers to properly monitor or take action against incompetent or unfit practitioners.

Members of the Alliance include the Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists, the Association of Cardiothoracic Surgical Assistants, and the VRCT. Professionals represented by the Alliance perform procedures on patients such as intravenously administering radiation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes; they also perform calibration, maintenance and quality control of complex medical devices such as renal dialysis equipment, often with little or no oversight. Many of the procedures performed by the professions represented by the Alliance are performed by statutorily regulated professions or medics in the United States and Europe.

If you want to know more please click on this link:
the Patient Safety Campaign

VRCT Registrants will be receiving a VRCT mailing with further information and which will ask that they contact their local MP to encourage them to attend the launch of the Alliance and to support an Early Day Motion in the House.

Jim Methven
VRCT Registrar

What about Biomedical Engineering Technicians (engineering technicians working in hospitals and/or other clinical settings) ... and engineers and technicians who work on medical equipment away from the clinical setting (at the premises of private companies, or in second line workshops, for example) ... or in some other form of tech support of medical equipment, or in an advisory, training or consulting capacity ... or in design?

Anyway, for those who regard themselves as Clinical Scientists, it looks like the "decision" has already been taken. I'm still not clear what any of that has to do with us (biomeds), though.

"Assured voluntary registration" ... do we mean "back to square one" then, Jim?

This campaign relates to those who are registered Clincial Technologists or those who aspire to be or need to be. Essentially, if they follow or have trained to the standards defined in the VRCT Medical Engineering scope of practice they are included. But there again you knew that...

... but for those who didn't (or don't yet):- VRCT Scope of Practice (and the .pdf).

There is no serious threat to patient safety, caused by "unregistered Biomeds" in the public or private sector.
Would you care to to give credence to your campaign by documenting known incidences, where the MHRA has determined that patient safety has been compromised by those rogue Biomed elements which must be running riot throughout the Health Service?
The existing safeguards detailed in Devices 2000 and DB2006(05) are deemed to be robust and adequate.

When all else fails, resort to scaremongering.

Wow! for over 30 years I have been an unregistered Biomed (not one to call myself a Clinical Technologist) I wonder how many patients have been subjected to safety issues during this time. I must return to England at once and register! Again what tasks does a clinical technologist perform? Until I registered on this site I had never heard the term ever!

Hang on to your ticket money, Neil ... I doubt that you would qualify.

Me neither, perhaps I had better add.

Shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a couple of "close calls" then, Sean.

But how many would involve biomeds I wonder?

Read the missive to Daniel Poulter MP, no mention of Biomeds, just a vague reference to complex equipment, and lumping a mixed bag of currently unregistered healthcare professionals under the loose term of Clinical Technologists, whilst scaremongering without evidence to back up any implied serious risks.
Unregulated healthcare professionals cannot be adequately regulated if they are not compulsorily regulated.
Wonder how the Health Service has survived so far?
As I will never use the title Clinical Technologist, I will sleep soundly tonight.

If MPs are really so worried about real patient safety (as in, helping to ensure that a high proportion actually survive their hospital experiences intact), perhaps they would do better by proposing a Vote of No Confidence in the senior leadership of the NHS. Just a thought.

Many folk I know (and not only the older ones) dread the thought of going into hospital. And I include myself in that, as well.