Advanced practitioner accreditation

In this section

In This Section

Advanced practitioner accreditation

Accreditation is time-limited and is granted to individuals who have met pre-defined College of Radiographers (CoR) requirements which are detailed in the sections below. 

Accreditation evidences to your peers, employer and those who use your services that you have met professional body requirements and that you practise in all four core domains of higher-level practice at advanced practitioner level.

  1. Expert clinical practice
  2. Professional leadership and consultancy
  3. Education, training and development
  4. Practice and service development, research and evaluation

‘Accreditation’ is not the same as registration, licencing, validation, certification or credentialling. Accreditation is applied to the whole practitioner and all their practice rather than very specific small elements, competencies or capabilities. 

Accreditation is not linked to registration and, ‘Accredited Advanced Practitioner” is not a protected title and is not a statutory requirement. It may be a requirement of your employer.

Accredited advanced practitioners will be able to access the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) online discussion group which is for accredited individuals only. This group will give you access to resources, information and most importantly the opportunity to network with other accredited advanced practitioners throughout the United Kingdom.

‘Advanced’ practice explained

Advanced practice is more than just reporting images or carrying out on-treatment patient reviews. These are examples of high-level skills that require in depth post-graduate knowledge but on their own they’re not advanced practice. For practice to be classed as ‘advanced’ the practitioner must work in all four core domains. If you don’t have elements of all four domains in your role, your practice will not be classed as advanced.

The College does not specify how much time you should spend in each domain. However, advanced practitioners usually spend at least 50 % of their time carrying out expert clinical practice and then varying amounts of time in the other domains. All four domains must be included in your role.

The Education and Career Framework (CoR, 2022) may help you decide if your practice is ‘advanced’. 

Applying for advanced practitioner accreditation

We are currently updating our accreditation application process. Guidance on completing an application will be made available when the new system goes live. This page will be updated when information is available.  

Page last updated 22/08/2023