Continuing professional development (CPD)

Continuing professional development (CPD) is a process to ensure as far as possible that someone remains up to date with current developments and good practice within their profession and as a result continues to be ‘fit to practise’ within their profession and speciality.

When registrants are placed on the register they accept that they have a responsibility to maintain a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of their CPD activities.

The CPD activities should:

  • demonstrate a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practise;
  • demonstrate that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practise and service delivery;
  • demonstrate that their CPD benefits the service user.

A random percentage of registrants will be selected each year and will be asked to submit a record of CPD activity for the CPD Audit Panel to review.

If selected for audit, supporting evidence will be requested and this will include a description of how they have met the standards for CPD.

Please familiarize yourself with the RCT CPD Policy, which has recently been updated.

CPD standards

The CPD standards used are those laid out by HCPC which are:-

  • 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 practise;
  • seek to ensure that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practise and service delivery;
  • seek to ensure that their CPD benefits the service user; and
  • upon request, present a written profile (which must be their own work and supported by evidence) explaining how they have met the standards for CPD.

CPD Audit

A percentage of RCT registrants will be chosen for audit by the RCT Audit Panel each year. Anyone selected for audit will be enrolled onto IPEM's CPD audit e-learning which will give you guidance including what you need to include in your submission and what the audit standards are you need to meet. 

When selected for audit, we ask you to upload your Summary of CPD Activity form to IPEM's CPD portal.  Paper submissions will not be accepted via email or post. 

During the audit, auditors will focus particularly on providing you with feedback on your submission, to let you know whether the information you have provided meets the audit standards and, if not, how you can change the information provided in order to meet the standards.

The most important aspect of CPD is the outcome of CPD activity for the individual rather than the length of time engaged in it. Learning outcomes and, where relevant, their application to practice should be recorded for each piece of CPD undertaken.

Almost all activities may include an element of CPD. It is for individual registrants to recognise and record learning outcomes. It is important that CPD is across a range of activities:

  • Work-based learning
  • Professional activities
  • Formal/educational
  • Self-directed learning
  • Other

An extensive but non-exhaustive list of potential CPD activities is provided here: RCT Types of CPD Activity and Examples

Example submissions

To give you an idea of what is deemed a ‘good  submission’, click on the following examples from previous audits: Chief Technologist – this Registrant demonstrated excellent reflection of the benefits to self and service users;  Technical Services Manager – provided good examples of CPD recording and was commended by the audit team for their hard work. Head of Clinical Engineering - another great example. 

Webinar

To view our CPD webinar, giving advice and guidance on how best to complete your CPD audit submission to ensure all standards are met, click here.