The SoR has submitted evidence to the Professional Standards Authority on the risks relating to the current Register of Clinical Technologists (RCT).
This Professional Standards Authority (PSA) accredited register provides a voluntary route for nuclear medicine technologists and other unregulated associated diagnostic professions to demonstrate that they meet high standards of personal behaviour and technical competence.
With this submission, the SoR has emphasised that patient safety in Nuclear Medicine is currently dependent on geography and employer policy, rather than consistent national standards.
Evidence was submitted with the support of the SoR Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Advisory Group as part of the ‘Share your experience’ consultation on the RCT, along with a host of other professional bodies, led by the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.
As nuclear medicine technologists are not statutorily registered, their practice is legally restricted in several areas, limiting the safe use of their skills, creating avoidable inefficiencies in patient pathways, and placing additional strain on registered professionals.
These are all barriers that statutory regulation would remove, the submission explained.
The submission stated: “Modern Nuclear Medicine Technologist (NMT) practice presents significant, foreseeable, and system-wide risks to patients, and these risks are not adequately mitigated by current voluntary regulatory arrangements.”
Nuclear medicine technologists undertake safety-critical activities including administration of radioactive medicinal products, administration of intravenous contrast media and other prescription-only medicines, dose calculations, and autonomous clinical decision-making.
Sue Johnson, professional officer for clinical imaging at the SoR and author of the submission, said: “Our submission is rooted in public protection and safe practice. We recognise the important contribution of nuclear medicine technologists and related professions, and we are actively representing them at a national level. We remain committed to supporting and strengthening visibility for this workforce.”