https://www.sor.org/

Transfer of the Public Voluntary Register of Sonographers to the Professional Standards Authority accredited Register of Clinical Technologists

The Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) and the Register of Clinical Technologists (RCT) are pleased to confirm1 that following Professional Standards Authority (PSA)2 approval the Public Voluntary Register of Sonographers (PVRS)3 will transfer to the Register of Clinical Technologists4 when the current biennial PVRS registration cycle ends on February 28th 2021.

Sonographers will be a separate professional group within the RCT register alongside the existing medical physics and medical engineering groups. As the RCT register 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 February 2019 report to Health Education England on the regulation of sonographers.5

Since 2011 government policy has been set against the statutory regulation of new aspirant professional groups of which sonographers are one.6 The SCoR, along with the British Medical Ultrasound Society, Royal College of Radiologists, Consortium for the Accreditation of Sonographic Education, the RCT and other stakeholder organisations, will continue to press the case for the statutory registration of sonographers. However, in the meantime, we are very pleased to be able to offer this transfer of PVRS voluntary registrants to the RCT. For those voluntary registrants currently listed on the PVRS, transfer processes are being designed to be as smooth as possible.

It will be an individual sonographer’s decision as to whether they wish to transfer from the PVRS to the RCT.

The RCT was formed in 2000 with the aim of protecting the public by advocating statutory, professional regulation for Clinical Technologists. The register has been accredited by the PSA since September 2015 but remains fully committed to continuing the push for statutory registration and recognition of the professions included within the register.

The SCoR 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. We hope 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.

Further information will be available shortly and will be published on the website. Frequently Asked Questions have been added below (4h Dec 2020). Our intention is to keep current voluntary registrants and the wider membership informed of the details of the transfer as they become available. If any immediate queries please contact PVRS@sor.org