HPC Listening Event
19 April 2007
Folkestone6-8pm
Chair:
Jacqueline Ladds – Communications Director, HPC
Panel Members:
Helen Davis – Registrant Council Member (Orthoptist)
Kelly Johnson – Fitness to Practice Director, HPC
Carol Lloyd – Alternate Registrant Council Member (Occupational Therapist)
Marc Seale – Chief Executive, HPC
Summary:
Q1.What are the requirements for CPD and what is the requiredPage 1
format for the CPD profiles?
Q2.How do we go about reporting someone who uses a protectedPage 2
title which we think they are not entitled to do so?
Q3.Does the HPC work in areas such as nursing homes which statePage 3
that theyoffer occupational therapy when in fact they are offering
craft work orother activities?
Q4.At what stage should an employer refer to the HPC if they had aPage 3
concern or a complaint made against an employee?
Q5.How will registrants be selected for CPD audit?Page 3
Q6.Could you explain how the HPC arrived at the sample size of 5%Page 4
for CPD audit?
Q7.What will happen if you find that somebody hasn’t done enoughPage 4
CPD?
Q8.How do people know how many CPD points they can have forPage 5
attending courses?
Q9.What is the HPC’s view on the online CPD services that are beingPage 5
developed?
Q10.Will the CPD profiles be paper based or electronic?Page 6
Q11.How long will you have to supply your portfolio after beingPage 6
selected for audit?
Q12.How many years will you be looking at in the CPD audit?Page 7
Q13.How do you demonstrate CPD if you are not working solely in thePage 7
field you are registered under?
Q1:
Jacqueline:
I will start with a tabled question regarding CPD. “I’m really keen to know what the requirements are for CPD training and what the required format is for CPD portfolios?”
Helen:
I think it’s something that we’ve all been concerned about, but the HPC are trying to be as light touch as possible and allow for many different types of CPD activities to be submitted. CPD is not necessarily going off on courses, it is any activity which allows us to reflect on our practice and perhaps confirm that we’re doing something right or perhaps prompt us to develop our practice and improve our service further. I would recommend people to look at the long CPD guide produced by the HPC as it provides a very good list of possible CPD activities. The CPD that you produce for the HPC should not be in addition to work you are already doing for your professional bodies, we are just asking you to reflect on the activities and then to tell us how this meets our standards.
Carol:
Again I would recommend that people look at the CPD booklet and in addition if you go onto the website you will find lots of examples of CPD profiles that were created in collaboration with the professional bodies. These profiles are very useful for seeing the types of information that can be included but also the various ways that people tie their activities to the standards. So if you go on and have a look, that will give you quite a lot of ideas, how to put it together, how to form it, and what sort of evidence is used.
Q2:
Chiropodist:
How do we go about reporting someone who uses a protected title which we think they are not entitled to do so?
Kelly:
We have an email address that you can write to and inform us of any concerns you may have. A case officer within my department will look at the complaint and we will look for supporting evidence. We will then write to that particular individual issuing them with a letter saying you’re breaking the law to continue using this title. We then wait to receive a response from them and if we don’t receive a response we send them a cease and desist letter from our lawyers. In the majority of cases this has worked. We have received I think about 600 complaints about misuse of title since we closed the register in July 2005. So really, if you do have a concern just email us on .
Marc:
I think this is a good example of where the regulator, the professional bodies and the professionals have to work together.
If you become aware of an individual who appears to be using a protected title or is masquerading as a registrant, err on the side of caution let us know. We’d rather have false positives than actually not know about these situations because I think it’s absolutely vital that if there are individuals out there who are pretending to be on our register when they’re not, a) it damages your profession which is not acceptable and b) if they are treating patients and that patient believes they are a professional, this is absolutely not acceptable and potentially dangerous. Kelly’s team really do take action, at the end of the day if they don’t cease and desist it really is off to the courts and it really is a large and significant fine. So far we’ve been totally successful in stopping those individuals doing that.
We’ve also been working in other ways for example over the last few years we’ve been working with what used to be the Yellow Pages and Thomson’s directory so that if individuals want to place advertisements, lets say in the physiotherapy section, they should refuse to place the advertisement if you do not supply your HPC registration number.
Q3:
Occupational Therapist:
Continuing on, does the HPC work in areas such as nursing homes which state that they offer occupational therapy when in fact they are offering craft work or other activities.
Kelly:
It’s also an offence to imply that you’re on the register. So if somebody is saying that they provide occupational therapy or art therapy services this is in effect implying that the individual is registered. Again the same process applies as set out previously. We will write to the individuals concerned and set out that it is breaching legislation, send a cease and desist letter and again take action if appropriate. We recognise that there is still quite a lot of work to be done but again, it is a criminal offence if you say you are providing occupational therapy when you are not an occupational therapist.
Q4:
Jacqueline:
Could I just ask Kelly another question that came up earlier today. At what stage should an employer refer to the HPC if they had a concern or a complaint made against an employee?
Kelly:
We ask employers to inform us at a very early point about the action they are taking against a particular registrant because this allows us to stop a registrant from removing themselves from the register while a complaint is being investigated and then coming back on at a later date. There are also cases in which the complaint is of such a serious nature that we as a regulator may feel that taking an immediate interim order against the individual is required. In the majority of cases we wait until you have concluded your proceedings before taking any action, but we really do need to be kept informed from the outset.
Q5:
Radiographer:
How will registrants be selected for CPD audit?
Marc:
Essentially the process will be a random selection. It is important to note however that we are assuming that you are all doing CPD, and we hope the random sampling is going to demonstrate that. However if we find that there are particular markers for people not doing CPD, the sampling numbers would go up until we could reassure ourselves that we are taking account of all those who are not doing CPD. So that’s the process that we’re going to use.
Q6:
Jacqueline:
Could you explain how the HPC arrived at the sample size of 5% for CPD audit?
Marc:
We realised that we needed some professional support with the sampling and so employed the services of the statistics department of the University of Reading. They demonstrated that a 5% sample size would work well as a starting point.
Q7:
Chiropodist:
What will happen if you find that somebody hasn’t done enough CPD? Where will they will stand?
Helen:
Firstly I think it is important to say that there will not be an automatic removal from the register if you fail to submit a profile, or submit a profile that doesn’t appear to meet the required standards. We will issue reminders, and will be supportive in both time and guidance as to what more information or further explanation is needed. I really want to stress that we’re not using this process to remove people from the register, we are actually trying to keep you on the register and we will be supportive throughout the process. If there are gaps in your portfolio or something that we require further information on we will ask you to re-submit your portfolio and give you 28 days to come back to us.
Marc:
I just wondered how people felt about CPD, whether you work in an NHS trust or in the private sector?
Podiatrist:
Just to say that we have currently 10 in service training days for our department. We have done for the last 6 or 7 years and we followed the professional guidelines as to the subjects that have to be covered and we also added some ourselves that seem relevant to us professionally at the time. This is for all our staff, even if they’re part time they can attend these courses and if its on a day when they’re not normally working then that would have to be in their own time but the facilities are available to them.
Occupational Therapist:
I did attend a meeting recently at which some of the occupational therapists working in a mental health trust were saying that within their integrated teams it was being questioned whether they needed to have this time made available to them. I think in the future this may become an issue for people.
Carol:
It is difficult but I think we have to recognise that CPD is now part of regulation and that if you don’t do it you are at a disadvantage. There is no point in the medics and the nurses being allowed time and other professionals getting the last bite of the cherry. I would suggest, as Marc did earlier, that you approach your trust and ask them why resources are not being allocated to us.
Unknown:
Do you actually invite any of these managers to attend these meetings?
Jacqueline:
The invitations are sent out to HPC registrants although we do publicise the events on our website. I’m very keen to look at the type of work in communications that we do with managers and employers so if you have any thoughts on that, that would actually be appreciated.
Q8:
Paramedic:
How do people know how many points we can have for attending courses?
Carol:
Within the HPC, we’re not looking for points. What we’re looking for is the relevance of that learning to your work. So for one person a course worth three points might not actually influence their work as much as somebody else. It’s very much dependent on the individual, what they’re doing, their practice and what value it has for them. So the points as such won’t matter for the HPC.
Q9:
Chiropodist:
I’ve noticed on the internet that a couple of organisations are offering CPD profile management tools online. I just wondered how the HPC looked upon this?
Marc:
What we’ve been saying is that you as an individual professional know the level and type of CPD appropriate for you. So it is for you to decide what it your CPD should be. That’s why we are asking for three components; one is a brief description of what you are doing and who you are in terms of the health care system, secondly, a statement of how you have met our standards for CPD and thirdly the evidence to support that. So I think in terms of how you collect that information it’s only you who can decide and evaluate what you have done. I’m not sure if a third party would be able to get involved in that process. To me it doesn’t seem to make sense.
Helen:
There are these systems going around and certainly other professional bodies including my own have an electronic system now for logging your CPD. I think the point to make is that what we’re really looking for is how this has affected your own practice. So actually that’s where it does become difficult for a third person to get involved. They may be able to present information but they would not be able to evaluate it for you.
Carol:
I think that in some ways your CPD is a very personal matter it’s what you’ve done, what you’ve learnt and how you’ve progressedand how you’re developing. And I’m not sure that a third party can interpret that for you.
Marc:
Taking this meeting for example, we could give out certificates of attendance worth one CPD point but the issues is that its up to the individual to decide whether this meeting has been of value or not. It might be completely relevant to some of you and might be completely irrelevant to some. That’s why it’s a very personal process to use professionalism in that judgment.
Q10:
Unknown:
I was just wondering about the actual submission of CPD evidence. Will this be an electronic process or paper based?
Marc:
I think realistically, given my experience of IT systems, we’ve got to start with paper based system and then look to develop more electronic facilities because sooner or later people will expect to be able to submit online. Initially however it will be paper based.
Helen:
Can I just add that we’re not expecting your whole portfolio, just the evidence to support your statements.
Q11:
Unknown:
Can you tell me how long you have to supply the portfolio after being selected for audit?
Carol:
In total you will have three months as we will advise that you have been selected for audit at the same time as we issue the first renewal notices. We will then send a reminder 28 days before the deadline.
Marc:
Obviously we would like registrants to submit their profiles as soon as possible after being notified however you will have three months to get it in. We may then offer a grace period for people who for instance may have been on holiday for an extended period or for other reasons. Once you submit the audit you will be given additional time to expand on specific points it if we think it is not quite up to standard, and if in the end you are not happy with the decision we reach you will have the option to appeal the decision. Obviously if people refuse to submit an audit or the standard is extremely poor you may be taken off the register however this is not fitness to practise, your registration renewal simply wouldn’t take place and you would have the option to get back onto the register in order to continue using the professional title.
Q12:
Unknown:
How many years will you be looking at in the CPD audit?
Carol:
We will be looking at the last two years of your registration.
Q13:
Unknown:
Many recent students are not finding work in their specific professions. How would they demonstrate their continuing CPD? I always direct people to the HPC is this correct?
Carol:
The requirements for CPD are dependent on your job, which is why we ask for a profile of your work to be included in your profile. I would suggest that people log onto the HPC website look at the example profiles because they demonstrate how people working in varied roles such as education, management etc show how their experience links to their profession.
End of meeting
1