Announcement by the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians, 19 March 2020
We are writing to you to provide clarification and reassurance regarding the CPD credit requirements in the current climate. We are aware that some of you will be in the unfortunate position of having had your CPD activity cancelled or postponed due to the developing COVID-19 situation as we reach the end of the 2019/20 CPD year. In addition, the situation for the next CPD year, 2020/21, is now looking uncertain.
With regard to the current CPD rules, we should like to emphasise the following:
- The Federation annual credit requirements (50 overall with 25 external) are recommendations only. The GMC as the regulator does not require a fixed number of CPD credits.
- Within the Federation guidelines if there is a shortfall in one year this can be addressed in other years as long as the 5 year recommendations are met (250 over the 5 years, half external.)
However, in the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we propose varying these requirements. We will support a flexible approach to CPD requirements for the remainder of the current CPD year and, in addition, for the next CPD year. Of greater importance than the number of credits obtained will be that Physicians show evidence of engagement with the CPD process. This will of course will be judged by appraisers, but we hope that appraisers will very much take this statement into account when assessing CPD.
We're also in the process of proposing measures that will make it easier to engage with CPD during the current pandemic. We will share further details of these with you soon.
