The Health Professions Council (HPC) is considering the application by the Society and College of Radiographers to legally protect the title ‘sonographer’.
A key factor in the decision, expected for December, will be the number of individuals listed on the Public Voluntary Register of Sonographers. Clinical departments therefore need to ensure that sonographers are on the voluntary register by the end of October 2008.
Director of professional policy for the SoR, Audrey Paterson, explains:"Managers should encourage everyone practising as a sonographer to apply to be entered on the public voluntary register – it may make the critical difference in whether or not the application for sonographer regulation is approved."
Information and forms can be downloaded.
Gathering evidence
The SoR is preparing further evidence to assist in the decision making process for submission to the HPC.
Hazel Edwards, senior lecturer in radiography, and the University of Hertfordshire have been commissioned to do some detailed work on:
• The number of sonographers currently outside of any regulatory framework;
• The degree to which the application has support from the governments of the four countries of the UK, employers of sonographers, and key stakeholders/bodies;
• The dichotomy: ‘ultrasound – tool or profession?’ – is it a tool used by a large and growing number of professions; is it a profession, or do both conditions exist simultaneously?
Hazel would welcome any help or information on the above.
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