May 2014 PCS News

Informations for your CDP accout member

Professional Competence

Information on our Professional Competence Scheme (PCS) and Continuous Professional Development Support Scheme (CPD-SS) for NCHDs in Non-Training Posts.

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Contacts for Professional Competence

PCS News May 2014

PCS – end of year 2013/14 (30th April 2014)

  • The online CPD Diary remains open until 9th May to log 2013/14 credits for the period 1st May 2013 – 30th April 2014.
  • Check your diary to ensure you’ve logged all your credits.
  • Have you confirmed YES or NO for Clinical Audit for the PCS year just ended?
  • Statements of Participation in a Professional Competence Scheme will be issued by email and post in late May / early June.

CPD credits for undergraduate teaching / supervision / examining

  • Research / Examining / Supervision CPD credits can be claimed for undergraduate teaching / supervision / examining as well as for those postgraduate activities. Ensure you have signed / verified logs or evidence on file.

Up to 5 Internal CPD credits per year for College Faculty and Committee meetings

  • College Faculty and Committee meetings with a clear patient care / patient safety aspect can garner 1 Internal CPD credit per meeting, up to a maximum of 5 credits per year. Meeting organisers (college staff or committee / faculty chairs) should retain attendance lists. Emails confirming attendance and credits are being issued by the college at present.

CPD Diaries: Log your credits and clinical audit status

  • We encourage all doctors enrolled on this PCS to log their CPD Credits and clinical audit status in good time before PCS year end (30th April 2014; diaries left open for logging until 9th May).
  • Doctors should use the Individual CPD Application Form to apply for retrospective CPD approval for a meeting / event they have attended which was of good CPD educational value but for which they did not receive a CPD certificate or CPD credits.

CPD credits for attendance at college Faculty & Committee meetings

  • If you attend or dial into College faculty & committee meetings which have a clear patient care / patient safety aspect, you can accrue 1 Internal CPD credit per meeting. You can log up to 5 of these internal credits per year. Towards the end of the PCS year (April 2014) the college administrators of the faculties & committees will provide members with confirmation of meetings attended and the credits that can be claimed.

Verification Process on Year 2 PCS statements – now underway

  • The verification process on a randomly selected 3% of doctors who were enrolled in the PCS in the year May 2012 – April 2013 is now underway.
  • Our guidelines for verification have been adjusted this year, based on fairness and feedback from last year’s process. Where a doctor has for example logged 100 credits in total, but has evidence for only 70 credits (with minimum requirements in all categories met), his verification will be deemed successful (but he will be advised that he must have evidence for all credits logged).
  • This verification process is carried out by the College as required by the Medical Council. It is a separate process to the Medical Council’s PCS audit.

Education Programme, eLearning

  • 23rd May 2014 – Health Economics – economic evaluation across the lifespan in mental health, 1 day conference. 5 external CPD credits. See events listing for programme & booking form.
  • 4th June 2014 – Psychotherapy / Psychopharmacology Saturday morning meeting, being organised by Dr R Blennerhasset and PIPSIG. See events listing for programme & booking form.
  • 6/7 November 2014: there will be a PCS workshop / parallel session held at the college Winter Conference in Kildare on 6th / 7th November.
  • We will be writing to Faculties asking them to organise inter-faculty meetings / updates to facilitate the flow of information and expertise across the faculties and specialties.
  • We will be writing to faculties to ask them to suggest and review third-party e-learning courses or modules with a view to recommending them for approval for CPD credits.

PCS Fees & enrolment

After multiple reminders and notices, we have now locked the online CPD diaries of those doctors who have not paid their PCS fee for the current PCS Year May 2013 – April 2014. Those doctors are no longer enrolled in PCS. If they wish to make payment and re-enrol they need to contact the PCS office. Doctors who wish to withdraw from the PCS because of leaving the country, withdrawing from Medical Council Register, retiring etc. need to inform us by email.