The RCT is pleased to announce that we have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists (RCCP). The RCCP holds a voluntary register for practitioners in six disciplines of Clinical Physiology. Their key aim is to ensure the highest levels of safety for patients of clinical physiologists.

Their key work strands include:

·         Maintaining and publishing a publicly accessible register of properly qualified members of the professions

·         Promoting awareness of the Register among employers and education providers

·         Working in partnership with professional bodies to promote the highest standards of professionalism

·         Approving high standards of education and training and continuing professional development

·         Investigating complaints and taking appropriate action

·         Campaigning for the introduction of statutory regulation of clinical physiologists to ensure that nobody can opt out of the patient safety measures that they provide

This agreement sets out our commitment to work together and with other suitable Accredited Registers towards statutory regulation for healthcare science technologists and practitioners, for the better protection of the public; to share financial and operational information as necessary to create a ‘cluster’ register; information shared to be used only for this purpose; to share information on standards, entry requirements, and register policies and procedures, this information to be used solely in order to align these to create a ‘cluster’ register and for no other purpose; to create a separate agreement, in line with the General Data Protection Regulations, should it become necessary to share data on registrants to form a ‘cluster’ register.

To read the RCT and RCCP joint statement, please click here.

The RCT management board have reviewed the fees for 2020 and details can be found on the RCT website. A registrars update explaining how the annual fees will be spent in 2020 is being put together and will be circulated shortly.

We currently have vacancies for RCT Assessors on the RCT panel. If you are registered on the RCT are looking for a new challenge, this is an interesting and varied role to add to your CV and could also count towards your CPD. If you are an IPEM member and would like to submit an application, please visit the ‘Get Involved’ page on the IPEM website when you are logged into your account, where you will find the role description and generic application form; or see the RCT website.

Mandatory direct debit payments for renewal fees – reminder

As mentioned in previous updates, the RCT Management Board has made the decision to introduce mandatory payment by direct debit for renewal fees for all registrants in the UK.  This will become the only way to pay from December 2020 for renewals due on 1 January 2021.  If you do not currently pay by direct debit, we would encourage you to consider this option for your upcoming renewal, so that this payment method is in place for when it becomes mandatory. You can pay in 1 annual payment in January or have the amount due split into 12 monthly payments. Please use this link to access the direct debit application form.

New ART representative joins the RCT Management Board

The RCT would like to welcome Kevin Gibbs who has replaced Ian Wilde as one of the ART representatives. Kevin has worked at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for over 15 years, 13 of those years as the Lead Renal Technologist for the Renal Services Departments both Adult and Paediatrics.

The RCT is looking for interested groups or individuals to help us develop new scopes of practice. These new scopes of practice are intended for professions which may need a registration home with the RCT. For example the profession may not already have a home, it may have developed over time into a profession in its own right from part of an existing one, or it may be an emerging profession looking to develop registration for the first time.

To assist anyone wishing to bring new scopes of practice to the RCT management board, we have developed a set of guidance notes to set out what we need in order to take any proposal forward. A copy of the guidance notes can be found here.

We have recently introduced a new Clinical Computing scope of practice for the RCT and are about to commence piloting of the new scope, before introducing it for new applicants.  If you know of anybody in your department who is working in Clinical Computing (management of computer systems, not software development) and is interested in applying to join the RCT, please ask them to email the RCT for further details of the pilot.

PSA Re-Accreditation

We are pleased to advise that the re-accreditation process with the Professional Standards Authority is now complete and we have gained accreditation for the coming year.

The RCT Registrar

CPD Audit results

The CPD audit has now been completed. 28 registrants passed at the first submission, with 19 registrants being re-audited. Of the 19, 11 re-submitted their evidence and we are pleased to say that all subsequently passed. Unfortunately, eight registrants chose not to re-submit and, as a consequence, have been suspended from the Register. The results of the audit will be published on the RCT website and a report will be emailed to all Registrants in due course. Please remember to keep a record of your activities on mycareerpath®, which is accessed via the IPEM website. This will make it easier for you to collate your information if you are selected for audit next year. If you are not sure of your login details, contact membership@ipem.ac.uk

CPD is feared and sounds very time consuming, however, by writing a few words a week, reflecting on what you have done or learned, you can easily build up a portfolio showing your development over many years.

By continuingly developing your skills and knowledge you show your employer your level of competency and it can be beneficial for your own career progression.

More importantly, by achieving CPD, you can demonstrate your credibility to patients, visitors and the local community and build their confidence within the service you provide. Further details can be found on the RCT website.

arding and Whistleblowing

The RCT Management Board encourage registrants to understand, recognise and address safeguarding concerns.  Such concerns must be addressed in a rapid and appropriate manner to prevent or minimise harm and protect the public. You can read the policy here.

Whistleblowing is where a worker (an employee, former employee, trainee, agency worker or member of an organisation) reports a wrongdoing in the public interest. Public interest means the wrongdoing must affect other people, for example the general public. You can read the policy here.

Mandatory direct debit payments for renewal fees – reminder

As mentioned in previous updates, the RCT Management Board has made the decision to introduce mandatory payment by direct debit for renewal fees for all registrants in the UK.  This will become the only way to pay from December 2020 for renewals due on 1 January 2021.  We would urge you to complete and return a direct debit mandate now in preparation for renewals due on 1 January 2020. You can pay in 1 annual payment in January or have the amount due split into 12 monthly payments.

Please use this link to access the direct debit application form – no payments will be taken until January 2020.

There are times when your work location may change. It is important to remember that it is your responsibility, as a registrant, to keep your details up to date on the register. Check the online register to ensure your details are correct and if something has changed, send us an email with your new details, so that we can update the register.  If you change your name for any reason (e.g. by deed poll, marriage, divorce etc.), then you need to inform the RCT as soon as possible by way of a certified copy of your change of name/marriage certificate. The copy must be signed by one of your original Proposers or a healthcare professional who is not related to you. Please submit your copy via email.

Two fitness to practise hearings have recently been completed. One resulted in a written reprimand and the other resulted in the registrant being removed from the register. The primary aim of the register is to protect the public and we take this requirement seriously. You can read more about all FTP findings on the RCT website. Details on how to proceed if you have concerns about an RCT registrant can be found here.

The Management Board are pleased to announce that by unanimous agreement, the existing Registrar, Iain Threlkeld and the existing Assistant Registrar, Andy Mosson have both been elected for further terms in their posts on the Board.

NEW Scope of practice

We are undertaking a process of introducing a new Clinical Computing scope of practice for the RCT. Work is due to be completed in the near future on the requirements for registration under this new scope and we will then undertake testing, before introducing it for new applicants.  Further information will be released in due course. If you know of anybody in your department who is working in in Clinical Computing (management of computer systems, not software development) and is interested in applying to join the RCT, please ask them to email the RCT for further details on the upcoming pilot.

PSA Re-Accreditation

We are now in the process of applying for re-accreditation with the PSA. This is an annual process and the submission deadline for our application is mid- July. Progress can be followed on the PSA website here.

– information required

There are still a small number of Registrants with no work location or scope of practice held on the RCT website. Please check the online register and if there is information missing against your entry, please advise us of this by email, quoting your CT reference number.

CPD Audit and webinar

We are now approaching the time of year when we carry out the CPD audit. Those who have been selected for audit have now been informed and I would therefore urge everyone to fully engage with the process and get in touch if there are any issues. The RCT has some very useful information on our website here. Please spend some time reading the information as it is there to help you. There are some anonymised submissions from previous CPD audits for information: however, we hope that you are recording your CPD as it has been happening throughout the year.

All submissions must be via the mycareerpath website, as previously mentioned (and see below). For those preparing for audit, there will be a special webinar to help you on Monday 18^th March at 13.30 – to register click here.

At the end of January this year, 132 registrants were lapsed for non-payment of their renewal fees.  This is around 5 percent of registrants.  In the weeks that followed, IPEM staff took around 30 calls from registrants who had not intended to lapse their registration.  Some of these registrants had received all of our email communications but kept getting waylaid by their day-to-day lives and their payment was not made by the deadline.  Other registrants advised they did not receive our emails, despite IPEM not receiving bounce-back messages from their accounts.  The result for these registrants was the same.  There is no process allowed under RCT policy and procedure to reinstate registrants for non-payment unless they have been away from work due to illness since prior to renewal notifications being sent out until after the deadline.  This must be confirmed by a line manager or a head of department.  Unfortunately for these 132 registrants, the only way back on to the Register is to reapply and for some, that means completing an equivalence application with a portfolio because they were grandfathered onto the Register many years ago.

As a result of this, the RCT Management Board has made the decision to introduce mandatory payment by direct debit for renewal fees for all registrants in the UK.  This will become the only way to pay from December 2020 for renewals due on 1 January 2021.  However, we would urge you to complete and return a direct debit mandate now in preparation for renewals due on 1 January 2020.  You may think that forgetting to pay your renewal fees would never happen to you and you may think that your workplace IT server will allow all emails from us through to you, however, it is clear from the number of calls received that this can happen to anyone and the RCT Management Board wish to do everything they can to ensure that registrants aren’t lapsed due to non-payment and then have to go through the time and effort of a re-application, not to mention the cost that incurs.

We sincerely hope you will take up the offer to get your direct debit in place well in advance of the next renewal cycle.  You can pay in 1 annual payment in January or have the amount due split into 12 monthly payments.

Please use this link to access the direct debit application form – no payments will be taken until January 2020.

There are times when your work location may change. It is important to remember that it is your responsibility, as a registrant, to keep your details up to date on the register. Check the online register to ensure your details are correct and if something has changed, send us an email with your new details, so that we can update the register.

The RCT Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) wants to help all Registrants to work within the Code of Professional Conduct of the RCT, in order to protect the safety of patients and the public. So, we identify the learning points from all Fitness to Practise cases that come before PCC Panels and make these available through the RCT website and the Registrar’s Update. For learning from the latest cases, please click here. On the website you can also read the outcomes of cases and find out about hearings coming up.

The Policy on Removal from and Restoration to the RCT has been updated by the RCT Management Board with the introduction of a new registration status category of ‘Inactive’. Any registrant who was previously marked as De-Registered, but left the register in good standing, is now marked as Inactive. Only those who have left the register for negative reasons – i.e. due to non-payment of the renewal fee, removed for failing the CPD audit or for conduct issues, will now be marked as De-Registered.

We are delighted to inform members that we have chosen the mycareerpath® online professional development system, designed and managed by the Engineering Council, to plan, evidence and record professional development. The tool, which is compatible with smart phones, tablets, PCs and Macs, is accessed by logging on to the IPEM website, navigating to My IPEM and selecting the mycareerpath® tab from the left-hand menu.

The first time you access mycareerpath® from the IPEM website you will be asked to create an account which is primarily for the purpose of agreeing to GDPR. This only happens once and all subsequent times you click on mycareerpath® you will go straight into the system. When you logout of mycareerpath® you will be directed back to the IPEM website.

mycareerpath® can be used to plan, evidence and record CPD and can also be used to plan, evidence and record progress towards defined competency standards such as the requirements needed to meet the professional registrations of the Engineering Council (EngTech, IEng and CEng) and the Science Council (CSci, RSci and RSciTech) (If you are intending to apply for one of these registrations you need to be a member of a qualifying professional body, i.e. IPEM).

The mycareerpath® system allows you to:

Add profiles

CPD is the default profile and you begin to record your CPD by uploading information to the ‘Evidence’ tab. You can also use the ‘Plan’ tab to set out your CPD aspirations at the beginning of a year.

Self-assess progress

mycareerpath® enables you to self-assess your progress against the individual competencies within a chosen profile.

Create an action plan

mycareerpath® enables you create an action plan.

Record evidence

You can add evidence, including any supporting documentation like certificates, videos and testimonies, to demonstrate that you have developed or increased competence. You can add web links or upload supporting documents. These will remain attached as evidence and reviewers will be able to examine them.

Generate reports

You can generate reports for each profile over a specified period of time. A CPD report assembles a chronological list of all plans and evidence started during the period specified. The competence report assembles a list of plans and evidence from the profile selected that started during the period specified.

Send work for review

Plans, evidence, reports and competence profiles can all be sent for review to any email address. This allows you to demonstrate progress to colleagues, employers, mentors etc. Reviewers will receive an email inviting him/her to view the page in question and add comments. Once a comment is added, the link expires.

Export data to PDF

Plans, evidence and reports in mycareerpath® can be exported and saved in PDF format.

CPD audit 2019

mycareerpath® is being used for the IPEM and RCT annual audit in 2019. If you have been selected for audit for this round (you will already have been informed of this), we ask you to upload your CPD summary to mycareerpath®. Paper submissions are no longer accepted via email or post.

Even members who don’t use mycareerpath® for planning and recording CPD can upload an external CPD record into the system and submit it. It’s quicker and easier than attaching the record to an email.

CPD audit 2020 onwards

You will be able to use mycareerpath® to record your CPD activity in 2019 and seamlessly upload these records if you are selected for audit in 2020.

For further details on mycareerpath, please visit the IPEM website.

The RCT Registrar

Continuing Professional Development

It is coming to that time of year when many registrants will be completing their 2018 CPD records and waiting to hear whether they have been randomly selected for audit this year. The results from the CPD audits have been improving year on year since the RCT started to carry these out, however the RCT is always looking to find ways to help.

We now carry out webinars to assist those selected for audit and everyone who took part in these last year, went on to pass the audit. There is also a wealth of information on our website to help anyone keep up to date with their CPD records.

Of course, many of the RCT Management Board are also RCT registrants and may therefore also be randomly selected for audit. However we feel that this isn’t really good enough and as the management board we should really be leading by example. For this reason every member of the RCT management board who is also an RCT registrant, will be self-selecting themselves for audit at some time during the next two years.

As the Registrar however, I feel I should do more. I have therefore submitted my 2018 CPD to Aaron Huckle who is the outgoing chair of the CPD audit panel. Aaron kindly offered to fully audit my CPD so I could publicly share both my CPD and the feedback from the audit with all registrants.

Included in this update therefore are both my CPD summary for 2018 and my CPD audit results:

CPD Summary 2018

CPD audit results January 2019

I am often asked how it is possible to carry out CPD when funding opportunities for training are being reduced in many workplaces. Hopefully my records demonstrate that much of my CPD is not related to actual courses, but is a mixture of learning, some of which may not even have seemed like CPD at the time.

I find the time to maintain records of CPD by placing a monthly reminder in my diary. Once a month I spend around 20 minutes reflecting back on CPD which I have carried out and updating my record. By doing it this way, if I am selected for audit in the future, then I will already have my CPD to hand over without having to retrospectively write anything up.

Can I wish the best of luck to everyone who is selected for audit this year, however as you will have all been keeping up to date with your CPD records, then I am sure luck will play no part in whether you pass the audit.

The RCT Registrar

Welcome to our two new board members

The role of the Registrant representatives is to represent the views of Registrants on the RCT Management Board and contribute to the management of the Register.  Lay members are appointed to provide a wider perspective on healthcare and public protection and are not part of the technologist profession. We are delighted to welcome our new Registrant representative – Carolina Rodrigues and our new Lay member – Sue Bentley. Read their biographies here.

Renewals due

Don’t forget that your registration will be due for renewal in January 2019. Emails will be sent out in early December and you can renew as soon as you receive the renewal email. The easiest way to pay is via direct debit. If you would like to switch to direct debit, download an application form and send it in to us as soon as possible.

CPD Audit

The CPD audit has now been finalised and a report will be added to the website and sent out to all Registrants in due course. 83% of Registrants passed the audit this year. Check the CPD page for further details.  Due to increasing standards of CPD submissions the RCT is investigating the possibility of introducing a CPD award for outstanding submissions.

RCT Assessor vacancies

We currently have vacancies for RCT Assessors. If you are registered on the RCT are looking for a new challenge, this is an interesting and varied role to add to your CV and could also count towards your CPD. If you are also an IPEM member and would like to submit an application, please visit the ‘Get Involved’ page on the IPEM website when you are logged into your account, where you will find the role description and generic application form; or see the here for further details.

·       CPD auditors have to self-select for audit within 2 years of joining the CPD Audit Panel

·       IPEM/RCT holds CPD webinars on how to complete the audit documentation

·       Submitting something is better than submitting nothing – you won’t be suspended from the          Register while we help you reach the required standard

·       The Management Board is committed to being audited

·       The RCT Registrar has been audited before

Feedback on the CPD audit process
A communication was recently sent to the PSA from the BNMS in respect of our re-accreditation application, whereby an RCT registrant was complementary of the CPD audit process, stating clear instructions were provided, correspondence was fast and to the point, and that they were provided with ‘excellent tools for self-reflective learning.’

There are times when your work location may change. It is important that you keep your details up to date. Check the online register to ensure your details are correct and if something has changed, send us an email with your new details, so that we can update our records.

Statutory regulation?

Following the announcement that Physician’s Assistants are to be statutorily registered, the RCT has contacted the HCPC again to see if there is a new opportunity to apply for statutory regulation for clinical technologists.

The RCT Registrar, Iain Threlkeld, has pledged to submit his own CPD portfolio for assessment in 2019, as an example to other Registrants that it is not an impossible task! The plan is that Iain’s submission will be audited ahead of the usual cycle, so that it can be used as an example for other RCT registrants, to give them confidence in completing their own forms if they are selected for audit.  The Professional Standards Authority noted this as an example of good practice for other Accredited Registers to follow, when re-accrediting the RCT this year.

The RCT Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) wants to help all Registrants to work within the Code of Professional Conduct of the RCT, in order to protect the safety of patients and the public. So we identify the learning points from all Fitness to Practise cases that come before PCC Panels and make these available through the RCT website and the Registrar’s Update. For learning from the latest case, please click here. On the website you can also read the outcomes of cases, and find out about hearings coming up.

The RCT Registrar