Public voluntary register of sonographers to transfer to RCT

The Register of Clinical Technologists (RCT) and the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) are pleased to confirm that following Professional Standards Authority (PSA) approval the Public Voluntary Register of Sonographers (PVRS) will transfer to the RCT on February 28th 2021.

The PVRS is a register for those individuals working as sonographers whose practice includes medical ultrasound. Many of those working in this field are already eligible for statutory registration through their existing qualifications via the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). However there are also a significant number of sonographers to whom these routes are not available. By transferring to the RCT these individuals will become part of a PSA accredited register and will work with the RCT to continue our push for statutory registration for all our registrants. 

 

Sonographers will be a separate professional group within the RCT register alongside the existing physics and engineering groups. As the RCT is accredited by the PSA it is better equipped to protect the public and is in a better position to meet the costs of PSA accreditation.  A move to a PSA accredited voluntary register was recommended by the PSA in their July 2019 report to Health Education England on the regulation of sonographers. 

Since 2011 government policy has been set against the statutory regulation of new aspirant professional groups of which sonographers are one. The RCT along with the SCoR, the British Medical Ultrasound Society, Royal College of Radiologists and the Consortium for the Accreditation of Sonographic Education and other stakeholder organisations, will continue to press the case for the statutory registration of clinical technologists and sonographers. 

For those voluntary registrants currently listed in the PVRS, transfer processes are being designed to be as smooth as possible and we will be providing further information soon on how this will be done. It will be an individual sonographer’s decision as to whether they wish to transfer to the RCT. We are publishing further guidance including ‘frequently asked questions’ to support the process. 

The SCoR and the RCT would like to thank all who have supported the PVRS over the many years since it was originally founded by the United Kingdom Association of Sonographers (UKAS). UKAS merged with the SCoR in January 2009 and will transfer to the RCT in 2021. The SCoR hopes to publish a history of the PVRS and the contribution it has made to the protection of the public and the on-going bid for protection of title and statutory regulation of sonographers in the New Year.