PCS News March 2016
PCS Year End 30th April 2016 – Update your online CPD Diary now!
Hard to believe but there are just two months left before the end of this 2015/16 PCS year!
If you take the time to update your online CPD Diary now, you’ll have a clear picture of any further CPD credits you need to accrue to meet the minimum annual requirements of the PCS. You can then plan the appropriate CPD activities you might need to undertake before 30th April 2016.
** Don’t forget to confirm Clinical Audit in your diary **
- Check the college’s Meeting & Events List on www.irishpsychiatry.ie for details of forthcoming meetings and courses approved for External CPD.
- Remember you can do some online CPD on approved websites to accrue External and Internal credits.
- If you attend any meeting approved for External CPD by another Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Body or the RCPsych, their CPD approval is recognised by us.
- Ensure you have evidence for the CPD credits you log in your diary. You must ensure you receive CPD certificates for External CPD credits logged; ensure you get an Internal CPD summary or certificate at the end of the PCS year from academic organisers or Peer Review Group co-ordinators; we recommend some reflective notes (not mandatory) for personal learning CPD credits claimed; countersigned logs of weekly supervision you’ve carried out; confirmation of examining you have done.
- The 2015/16 CPD diary year will remain open for logging until 5pm Wednesday 11th May 2016.
- Apply for retrospective External CPD approval for meetings or courses you attended during the year which were not approved by us or another Postgraduate Medical Training Body, for which you wish to claim external CPD credits.
Internal CPD Credits for College Faculty & Committee attendance
The relevant College departments will email individual faculty & committee members with a summary of the Internal Credits claimable for their attendance at College committee and faculty meetings throughout the 2015/16 PCS year. This information will be compiled and provided during April 2016.
Noting Maternity Leave / certified Sick Leave >3 mths on PCS Annual Statements
The Medical Council recognises that periods of certified leave such as maternity leave or sick leave longer than 3 months can result in a doctor not being able to maintain their professional competence over that period. Where a doctor has had a period of certified maternity or sick leave greater than 3 months, with minimum targets not being achieved in one year, the Medical Council will take into account the average accrual of credits over a 5 year period if they are reviewing that doctor’s PCS details.
Doctors who wish these circumstances to be (1) noted on their annual Statement of Participation in a Professional Competence Scheme and (2) taken into account in the event of the Medical Council reviewing their PCS details, should:
(a) email or write to the college’s PCS Department, marking correspondence Private & Confidential
(b) include the nature of the extenuating circumstance (i.e. sick leave, maternity leave)
(c) include the (estimated) dates of the period of certified leave
(d) do not send our PCS Department documentation, certification, sick notes etc. Keep them with your CPD files.
We will note the information confidentially on our Professional Competence files. An annotation will be made on the relevant year on the doctor’s Statement of Participation in a Professional Competence Scheme, with the text “Period of certified absence >3 months reported”.
This updated guidance applies from the current PCS year onwards. The Medical Council has published guidance on its website
CPD Meetings
HOT TOPICS IN PSYCHIATRY – a series of monthly evening CPD meetings – 2 CPD credits
Next Hot Topics meeting is Thursday 10th March in the Ashling Hotel from 6.30 – 8.30pm. The focus for the evening is Early Onset Psychosis presented by Dr Paddy Power, and The Youth Mental Health Paradigm presented by Ms Helen Coughlan. The full list of dates, topics and speakers can be viewed on the Meeting & Events list on www.irishpsychiatry.ie where members can also book online.
April Hot Topics (28/04/16) will focus on Gender Dysphoria – psychiatry & endocrinology.
Making HOT TOPICS available to the regions
With the help of college members outside of Dublin, we would like to run further Hot Topics meetings in regional locations. If you can organise a venue and speakers locally, please contact our office and we’ll happily do the rest.
Other CPD EDUCATIONAL EVENTS organised by the PCS Department
- PCS Workshop (1 hour) on Self-Care, Self Management for Psychiatrists – Thursday 7th April at Spring Conference, Carton House, Kildare.
- Managing Patients’ Health Anxiety full day workshop with Prof Peter & Dr Helen Tyrer – Friday 27th May, Hilton Hotel, Charlemont, Dublin 6. (6 External CPD Credits). Limited places available – members can book online through the Meeting & Events listing on the college website.
- Search the Events and Courses list if you would like to know how many external CPD credits have been awarded for a particular meeting, course or event.
Medical Council Patient Feedback (PF) Pilot
The Medical Council has now received the names of our psychiatrists interested in participating in its Patient Feedback pilot. Participants are currently being contacted by the research company appointed by the Medical Council to carry out the pilot. The Medical Council is due to issue participants with CPD / Clinical Audit certificates before the PCS year end.
Medical Council to follow up with registered doctors NOT enrolled on a PCS
As requested by the Medical Council, on 30th April 2016 we will be providing them with the names and MCRNs of all psychiatrists who at that date are enrolled in our PCS. No information is being provided as to individual named doctors’ levels of participation or accrual of credits. The Medical Council will reconcile the names with its own registration lists, so that it can identify doctors on its registers who are not enrolled on a PCS. The Medical Council will then follow up with those doctors. No further action will ensue for those enrolled doctors whose names and MCRNs are provided.
Earlier this month we emailed our members to update them and let them know if they are / are not enrolled on our PCS. If you are unsure as to your enrolment status on our PCS, please contact Louise, Mona or Lorna in the PCS office today.
**Don’t forget to confirm Clinical Audit in your diary **
- Check the college’s Meeting & Events List on www.irishpsychiatry.ie for details of forthcoming meetings and courses approved for External CPD.
- Remember you can do some online CPD on approved websites to accrue External and Internal credits. If you attend any meeting approved for External CPD by another Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Body or the RCPsych, their CPD approval is recognised by us.
- Ensure you have evidence for the CPD credits you log in your diary. An External CPD certificate for every claim of External CPD credits; ensure you get an Internal CPD summary or certificate at the end of the PCS year from academic organisers or Peer Review Group co-ordinators; we recommend some reflective notes (not mandatory) for personal learning CPD credits claimed; countersigned logs of weekly supervision you’ve carried out; confirmation of examining you have done.
CPsychI Verification Process on the 2014/15 PCS year
We are obliged to conduct an annual PCS verification process as part of our arrangement with the Medical Council to operate the Professional Competence Scheme for psychiatrists. This is an internal college process and only aggregate numbers from our verification processes are provided to the Medical Council in our annual reports.
The verification process on the 2014/15 PCS year has now commenced with the selected psychiatrists asked to provide evidence of the credits and clinical audit that they logged during the year in question. Our general report on verification processes to date will soon be circulated to all psychiatrists enrolled on the Professional Competence Scheme.