Main Responsibilities of CPD Reviewers
- Reviewing applications for CPD Approval according to Federation criteria in order to maintain the standard of CPD activities. These include live events, streamed events, distance learning, e-libraries and e-platforms.
- To participate in periodic quality assurance exercises relating to CPD approval decisions.
Auxiliary Responsibilities
- To support the work of the Federation, in relation to CPD, and promote the Federation CPD diary scheme, including Federation CPD app, to physicians in the UK
- To advise CPD activity organisers, in their specialty, on the content and structure of CPD educational events
- To encourage and support high quality approved education for consultants and non-consultant career grade physicians in their specialty
- To provide a source of advice to the Federation on CPD issues, including feeding back the views of physicians in their specialty.
- To attend a Federation CPD reviewers meeting once a year
The CPD reviewers group
- The Federation usually has approximately 40-50 CPD reviewers at any given time
- The CPD approval process is overseen by the Federation CPD Director, who also acts as a senior CPD reviewer. The CPD Directors of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow also act as senior reviewers.
- The group is supported by the Federation CPD Manager and the CPD Office Team, who also provide a focal point for communication between CPD reviewers
- There are currently 3 CPD reviewers Meetings each year including virtual meetings and CPD reviewers are requested to attend one of them. The purposes of these meetings are:
- To provide an update on recent CPD developments and policies
- To explore and develop new policy issues
- To train reviewers on the on-line CPD approval system
- To provide a networking opportunity
- To answer any relevant queries
- To quality assure approval decisions
Background of CPD reviewers
There are CPD reviewers related to each core physician specialty, distributed across the regions of the UK and drawn from the three Federation Colleges. Each core specialty will have one or more advisers. In order to ensure appropriate local expertise, CPD reviewers are also recruited to represent Wales and Northern Ireland. Additional CPD reviewers with an appropriate specialty interest may also be recruited on a regional basis, as determined by the Federation CPD Director. They will review CPD applications in their specialty but will provide a regional perspective when this is deemed necessary by the CPD office. At least one SAS doctor is recruited as a CPD reviewer to represent SAS Doctors.
Selection for the Role
Because the CPD scheme is a Federation activity, CPD reviewers should be able to take a UK-wide perspective for their specialty. Reviewers may be nominated by their specialist association, or by a joint specialty committee of one of the three physician Colleges, where there will be representation from the specialist association. The nomination will be subject to approval by the Federation CPD Director. In order to ensure broad representation across the UK, CPD reviewers may also be recruited on a regional basis, as determined by the Federation CPD Director.
Tenure
The CPD reviewer will usually serve in that role for a maximum of 4 years (extendable by mutual agreement), subject to continued engagement with the responsibilities of the position. The CPD reviewer must be in active clinical practice and in good standing with the GMC.
Further Information
The CPD diary scheme guidelines, including annual requirements and CPD approval guidelines are available on the Federation CPD website. Contact cpdapproval@rcp.ac.uk