The Public Voluntary Register of Sonographers

Dear Editor,

The Public Voluntary Register of Sonographers (PVRS) is referred to in the interesting article by Parker and Harrison,¹ where it is stated that it was established by the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR). It is certainly the case that this voluntary register is now administered by the SCoR,² but it was not established solely by the SCoR. A voluntary register was first set up by the United Kingdom Association of Sonographers (UKAS) in 2004 to help protect the public and to support the case for statutory registration. The register was later re-launched jointly with the SCoR in May 2007 and then became solely the responsibility of the SCoR following the merger of UKAS with the SCoR in January 2009. The PVRS currently has 750 voluntary registrants of whom 133 have no statutory regulatory ‘home’ available to them. Its two aims continue to be to help protect the public in an area of practice where statutory registration is not always available and to support the bid for statutory registration for sonographers. Being able to demonstrate that there is an active voluntary register is important to that process.³ Statutory registration was recommended by the then Health Professions Council to the Secretary of State for Health in October 2009 but has not progressed due to subsequent government policy. This now states that statutory registration will only be considered in ‘exceptional circumstances’ and where voluntary registers, such as those maintained by professional bodies and other organisations are not considered sufficient to manage the risk involved.^4,5