SVT through the years
The Society for Vascular Technology of Great Britain & Ireland (SVT) became a registered charity in 1992. The Society brings together those performing vascular physiological and imaging assessments. Over the past thirty years we have seen many improvements and changes such as the development and roll out of a national aortic aneurysm screening programme, centralisation of vascular services, modernising scientific careers and a COVID-19 response to name a few. Notable improvement included creation of the first national structured training, teaching and assessments of Clinical Vascular Scientists culminating in certification in the form of Accredited Clinical Vascular Scientist (AVS) status which is still held in great esteem globally.
Standardisation and quality improvement are central to future. To achieve this the SVT pioneered nationally agreed protocols and guidelines available as a starting point for Vascular services. All of this has enabled an extension of the AVS role from assessing and reporting disease into administering surveillance programmes, liaising with GPs, leading in vascular outpatient clinics and performing endovascular intervention. Delivering all these services in a safe manner highlights the quality of training and robustness of our accreditation process.
More recently Brexit has become a recognised challenge. The UK has always been a stronghold of vascular technological development. The deviation from European Certification (CE) marking to UKCA marking poses the biggest threat to maintaining our world leading status as a research leader. Ensuring early access to emerging technology other than from deep pockets of multinationals is easily the biggest challenge we face in the next decade. Our Society has come a long way in the last thirty years and we look forward to a future with a stronger, better trained and more vibrant workforce.
