CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Compliance to the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme is the responsibility of every registered health practitioner. The CPD programme is implemented under the legislative authority of section 26 of the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974). CPD is the process of documenting and tracking the skills, knowledge and experiences that are gained both formally and informally as health practitioners work beyond any initial training. CPD programmes that are recognised as part of ordinary professional practice should be approved prior to delivery or undertaking in order for such an activity to be awarded relevant to be recognised for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to be granted.

Health practitioners are advised that the total minimum required CEUs should be inclusive of clinical, ethics, human rights and health law, as per CPD guidelines. CPD compliance is determined based on attainment of both clinical and ethical/health law or human rights components.

Each CEU is currently valid for 24 months from the date on which the activity took place. This means that health practitioners should aim to accumulate and maintain the balance of CEUs throughout the 24 months.

Health practitioner should note the following amendments made to the process of managing evidence of CPD compliance. Changes relates to:  

1. Discontinuation of the sampling of health practitioners to verify compliance;  All registered health practitioners shall ensure ongoing compliance with CPD requirements.
2. The online self-service platform is available for all registered health practitioners to submit enquiries and/or upload the required evidence of CPD compliance. Only evidence that is not approved by the local CPD Service Providers. For example, when submitting evidence of reviewing a journal article.
3. The HPCSA approved that authorised that facilitators and Service Providers of CPD programmes submits the attendance registers directly to the HPCSA in order to update the health practitioner’s profile.
4. The Service Provider shall always copy the Accreditor and attach the accreditation letter when providing such evidence of CPD engagement.
5. Issuance of CPD certificates is no longer a mandatory requirement, as the information is provided directly through the approved facilitators and Service Providers of the CPD activities.

Fitness to Practice

• The training entity/institution/hospital needs to be accredited by the board for training in that particular profession or discipline and for that particular competency.
• The trainee must have completed a duration of under and/or postgraduate training as laid down by the Board.
• The trainee must have been evaluated and certified as having met the requirements of the training programme by an entity accredited by the Board (e.g. Colleges of Medicine, Universities).
• Short courses can only be recognised as enhancing or maintaining skills within the field of practice and category of registration in which the practitioner had already been credentialed and registered by the Board.
• Practice should be within the scope of the practitioner’s profession as laid down by the Board and is judged by the standards and norms considered reasonable for the circumstances under which the intervention took place.

• Initial training under supervision as defined in clause above, by an entity accredited by the Board for such purposes.
• Certification of successful completion of such training.
• With any intervention, proficiency must be demonstrable, taking into account and judged by the standards and norms considered reasonable for the circumstances under which the intervention took place.
• The introduction of new interventions within the practitioners’ scope of profession is only permissible if the practitioner has undergone further appropriate training as approved by the Board.

Maintenance of Licensure Programme

Presentations