COMMUNIQUE

CPD Compliance

Dr Nthabiseng Metsing

Head: Professional Development, SADA

Take a moment to consider where you were professionally some years back or what your profession looked like when you first entered the workforce. Regardless of the time period that has lapsed or the industry in which you operate, chances are, you've experienced significant change as a professional, to how you work, within workplace cultures, systems and with the technology you use, to name a few.

Change as we know is constant. In the rapidly-evolving workplace, professional growth is imperative not only to keep progressing with career ambitions, but also to sustain present-day skillset relevancy. Continuing Professional Development programmes are among the best options, in this regard, to stay ahead of the curve and achieve greater success in one's professional journey.

As we near the end of the year SADA would like to remind members about their CPD requirement for the year, there is still time if you are still short of points. The maintenance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is one of the requirements of HPCSA registration. Practitioners are required to accumulate Continuing Education Units (CEUs) per twelve-month period, including ethics, human rights, and medical law.

Each CEU will be valid for 24 months from the date on which the activity took place (or ended, in the event of post-graduate studies) after which it will lapse. This means that practitioners should aim to accumulate a balance of 60 CEUs by the end of their second year of practise, and thereafter top-up the balance through additional CPD as each 24 -month validity period expires.

Previously the HPCSA conducted mandatory random audits to ensure compliancy. Where once a practitioner's name was selected, they were required to submit a CPD portfolio to Council within 21 days. Non-compliant practitioners were given six months to comply. After the period of 6 months a practitioner would again be audited and if there was still non-compliance, the Professional Board considered appropriate action. Practitioners were only required to submit their CPD portfolios if their names were drawn from a random sample audit and when requested to submit their completed form CPD 1 IAR with accompanying proof of CPD activities undertaken.

This is no longer a requirement and as mentioned before in the SADA previous communiques which indicated that the HPCSA no longer accepted CPD certificates by e-mail as they have migrated to a new CPD system/online portal.

As a result of the many enquiries from members SADA wishes to highlight the new process again which states that:

• CPD certificates are no longer mandatory

• Bulk uploading of CPD information will be done directly by the service provider (SP) straight to the HPCSA portal, instead of individual upload.

• The Accreditors and Accredited Service Providers (ASP) will have direct integration with HPCSA, thereby eliminating the need for certificate uploading by practitioners.

• The ASP submission of information to their Accreditors can be made directly to the HPCSA before CPD status of delegates can be updated.

• The Accreditors' quality assurance functions, such as monitoring providers' compliance with the accreditation guidelines, will also be performed online thereby reducing administrative burden to the Accreditors.

• Accreditors will have access to instant reports of their service providers on demand.

• Practitioners will also be able to view their profile and monitor their compliance on the HPCSA's new portal. On https://practitionerssso.hpcsa.co.za/

The association wishes to encourage members to comply with the HPCSA regulations of the CPD requirements.