The SoR and the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) have released joint guidance on job planning and career mapping for sonographers.
The document establishes a national framework to support workforce development and service delivery. It aims to help managers in ultrasound departments understand how sonographers at different career levels can contribute to their teams.
It highlights the role of newly qualified practitioners entering practice through degree programmes and apprenticeships, and the importance of supporting them to progress through preceptorship and towards enhanced practice.
'A strategic tool'
Gill Harrison, professional officer for ultrasound at the SoR, said: “The guidance provides a strategic tool for workforce planners, enabling clearer identification of service needs and the development of realistic workforce models. By applying the job-planning framework at organisational level, services can align sonographer staffing with operational priorities and strengthen recruitment and retention of sonographers.
“We are grateful to members of SoR and BMUS for generously sharing their clinical expertise and time in shaping this document.”
Drawing upon and developing the Career Progression Framework, as well as the BMUS Preceptorship and Capability Framework, the guidance will aid ultrasound departments in structuring job planning across the four pillars of practice: clinical practice, leadership, education and research.
It also clarifies the scope of practice for all career stages – from trainee to consultant practitioner – in the clinical areas of obstetrics, gynaecology, hepatobiliary, urology, head and neck, and musculoskeletal imaging.
This gives departmental managers a practical roadmap for career development and workforce planning.
The guidance reiterates the ongoing call by professional bodies for the statutory regulation of sonographers, noting that its absence continues to create barriers to career progression, international recruitment and scope expansion.
Read the publication in full online here.