HPC REGISTERED?
The final stages of the registration process are now being completed and the LCSP Register has some 71 members registered as Physiotherapists /Physical Therapists, my congratulations go to each and every one of you as it is a clear testament to your professionalism and dedication. However with this endorsement to you and the profession come other obligations, obligations that if ignored or not taken on board fully could result in you being removed from the HPC Register.
The HPC expects all of its 162,000 registered health professionals to be recording evidence of how they are meeting standards of Continued Professional Development (CPD).
The following standards for CPD were agreed by the HPC in July 2005, and the HPC Council expect to commence CPD audits by 2008. Briefly, a registrant MUST:
- Maintain a continuous, up to date and accurate record of their CPD activities.
- Demonstrate that their CPD activities are a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice.
- Seek to ensure that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practice and service delivery.
- Seek to ensure that their CPD benefits the service user.
- Present a written profile containing evidence of CPD on request.
- The HPC have stated that ‘by agreeing the standards and making them public now, gives registrants an opportunity to familiarise themselves with them’
HPC are more interested in ‘educational learning outcomes’ rather than what course have been attended. CPD will be assessed as to its relevance to an individual’s scope of practice and skill mix and will focus on outcomes far more than duration and quantity.
When you formulate and record your personal CPD plan which should be at least annually, you need to be clear about;
- What you need to learn in order to maintain or improve your scope of practice
- How theoretical and practical skills gained can benefit your practice
- How this will benefit your service user (the patient).
When recoding CPD it is essential that you;
- Record your theoretical learning outcomes. You need to highlight points of theory learned and expand on them
- List the skills gained by the learning experience and again expand on them
- Document how the learning will enhance your practice and benefit the patients
- Identify areas of weakness for further learning.
It is the responsibility of the individual physiotherapist that they meet the full criteria for CPD as required. Failure to do so will most certainly bring suspension from the HPC Register until such time as you do comply. You may also be required to work under supervision for a period of time, in extreme cases you risk being ‘erased’ from the HPC Register completely.
Don’t let any of this happen to you,
This is your livelihood that we are talking about and to do nothing is to risk that.
If you have not yet seriously started CPD, or are not recording what you are doing then please do so without delay.
The LCSP Register is currently preparing the CPD section for the Members portfolio and this will be with members shortly, however the HPC registered members need to be aware of these extra obligations on them.
Useful publications giving details of these requirements are:
HPC standards of performance and ethics
HPC standards of education and training
HPC standards of proficiency (physiotherapists)
These can be downloaded from www.hpc-uk.org
