National Register for Spirometry

The National Register is the list of practitioners and operators who have demonstrated their competence in spirometry. A National Register will enable transparency within the NHS and to the public about the competence of healthcare professionals to perform and/or interpret spirometry. This list already exists and many healthcare professionals are already on it after undertaking training in recent years.
The National Register is not mandatory. However PCRS believes having a national certification programme and register represents the best way to ensure quality and consistency. We expect that introducing the scheme will raise the quality of diagnosis of respiratory disease because it will ensure that all practitioners involved in spirometry have their skills assessed and are certified as competent.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has indicated that they will check on the quality of spirometry by looking at whether practices are delivering spirometry in line with the standards document. They will take into account whether they are on the National Register in assessing their competence.

how they ensure spirometry equipment is cleaned and maintained according to the manufacturer’s guidance (KLOE S3 – reliable systems, processes and practices).
that all staff who perform spirometry tests or interpret results are competent (KLOE E3 - staff skills, knowledge and experience). They can demonstrate this if the staff are on the National Register.