Medical Council Guidance March 2020

Professional Competence

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

Section Menu

Contacts for Professional Competence

06/03/2020: Medical Council & PCS advice

Email circulated to all on PCS on 06/03/2020.

COVID-19 and CPD – Medical Council Guidance
Due to significant workload and potential travel disruptions, arising due to COVID-19, the Medical Council appreciates that some doctors may choose not to attend European and International medical education related conferences or have difficulty in recording their CPD. If, as a result of this, you will not meet your CPD requirements can you please do the following:

1.        Advise your Professional Competence Scheme – make a declaration here
2.        When completing the Annual Retention Application Form (ARAF), tick No you are not compliant.

By doing both of these your circumstances will be taken into consideration in the compliance monitoring process, and if your compliance with the requirements has been consistent in the past, this deviation should not cause you any great concern.

NOTE FROM COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS:
You should note that if you are unable to meet the annual CPD requirements due to the effects of COVID-19, or for any other reason, you still have to declare yourself non-compliant when completing your Medical Council registration renewal form (ARAF) later this year. However, we realise that most of you will wish to be fully compliant. Online CPD is an option you may wish to consider. With this in mind, we have some good news.

  • The current annual limit of 10 External and 10 Internal CPD credits from approved Online CPD has been removed for the remainder of this PCS year (ending April 30th).
  • The limit of maximum total 7 Internal / External CPD credits to be logged for participation in College faculty, special interest group and other qualifying committee meetings has also been removed for the remainder of this PCS year.

We hope these measures will facilitate and encourage you to meet your requirements.

LINK TO APPROVED ONLINE CPD RESOURCES

Please do take the time to update your PCS diary before year end 30th April. If you attended educational events and don’t have a CPD certificate of attendance, apply for CPD approval in good time before year end.