Continuing Professional Development

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a continuing learning process that requires surgeons to maintain their knowledge base and performance throughout their working life. Given the increasing amount of regulation within surgery, there is recognition from The Royal College of Surgeons of England of the need for CPD for all surgeons.

The Senate of Surgery of Great Britain and Ireland, comprising the surgical Royal Colleges and Specialist Associations of Great Britain and Ireland, has been responsible in recent years for various aspects of CPD for surgeons.

Following a decision by Senate to reconfigure its strategy towards CPD, the intercollegiate CPD office at the College was closed on 1 July 2003. Since the closure, the College no longer registers individuals or keeps records of CPD activity.

Until 30 September 2005, surgeons will be able to retrieve their CPD records. Requests for copies of records should be made by email to cpd@rcseng.ac.uk. Please include your name, current address and GMC number when emailing the College.

Senate has now produced guidance on CPD, ‘Maintaining your performance: dossier on guidance on Continuing Professional Development for Surgeons’, to assist surgeons in planning and recording their CPD. It reflects the shift away from the historical quantitative measures of CPD and is based on the principle of self-accounting with quality assurance through the appraisal process.

The new guidance no longer incorporates the collection of numerical points or credits from performing activities contributing to CPD. Specifically, there is now no system of allocating, approving or verifying activities with arbitrary points. Therefore, the College is no longer awarding CPD points for events.

It is the responsibility of each individual surgeon to maintain his or her own records for review as part of the mandatory annual appraisal at Trust level and the proposed national arrangements for five-yearly revalidation.

For further information with regard to CPD, please email cpd@rcseng.ac.uk

Letters regarding the closure of the intercollegiate office and CPD guidance: -

• June 2003 letter
• November 2003 letter
• March 2005 letter

April 2005