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Radiographers in the UK
Radiographers in the United Kingdom are highly professional statutorily regulated health care practitioners, who train as either diagnostic radiographers or therapeutic radiographers.
The profession is one of the 14 Allied Health Professions (AHPs) in the UK regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
UK Radiographers take responsibility for leading complete procedures within imaging or radiotherapy, working alongside other members of the multi-professional team:
- Diagnostic radiographers provide services that are central to delivering a fast and reliable diagnosis of traumatic injuries, acute and chronic illnesses, and other diseases plus monitoring of disease progression and long-term conditions. They also deliver many imaging aspects of national cancer screening programmes as well as ultrasound services for the prenatal screening service.
- Therapeutic radiographers deliver curative and palliative care for cancer patients. They support patients through their radiotherapy treatment pathway.
Assessing your qualifications
The UK National Information Centre for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills (UK ENIC) is responsible for providing information and expert opinion on vocational, academic and professional skills and qualifications from over 180 countries worldwide.
It is advisable to request a statement of comparability from UK ENIC prior to applying for registration with the HCPC.
For more information, please visit the UK ENIC website.
HCPC registration
To work as a radiographer in the UK, you need to be registered with the HCPC.
The HCPC will consider each case individually and will look at the length and level of the training leading to qualification and experience gained working as a radiographer overseas.
International candidates will also have to meet standards of proficiency for radiographers as well as demonstrate their English language skills via the appropriate test.
To learn more, please visit the International Recruitment section of the HCPC website.
SoR Membership
We are the Society of Radiographers, the professional body and trade union for radiographers in the United Kingdom.
We help our members by:
- looking after your educational and workplace interests
- providing advice and representation when needed
- developing authoritative guidance on all areas of practice
- funding research grants, awards, conferences and event programmes
- lobbying government
While it is not mandatory to join, you may find having access to our membership benefits useful during both your application stage, when looking to work in the UK, as well as when successful in employment. We have over 30,000 members, including some based internationally.
To explore our membership benefits, please see here.
Life as a radiographer in the UK
To find out more about the National Health Service (NHS) and radiography in the UK, International radiographers can access 2 e-learning sessions, free of charge, by registering via the eIntegrity platform. The first session provides a brief overview of the National Health Service (NHS) and the principles and values of the NHS Constitution. It is for diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers trained overseas considering a career as a radiographer in the NHS.
The second session outlines the radiographer's role in the UK under the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulation. Information on the UK radiographer career structure and the vital role of the support and Assistant practitioner workforce is included—the multidisciplinary team delivering diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy in the UK is identified, and some possible professional differences are highlighted. The role of the Society of Radiographers as the professional body and trade union for the radiography workforce is also explained.
Once you have an NHS e-mail address, you can access a learning path 41_03 International Recruitment Learning Path: Introduction to patient care within imaging departments. These modules provide further support for newly recruited international radiographers. This includes sessions on personalising care, imaging patients with dementia and topics such as respect and dignity. This is recommended for all users. Following this, there are specific introductory sessions for general radiography, CT and MRI.