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The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has finalised a new credit-based system that will allow GPs to demonstrate their continuing professional development (CPD), helping them to fulfil the needs of appraisal as part of their revalidation. This system was agreed following consultation with stakeholders, including the General Practitioners Committee of the BMA.

Under the new scheme, GPs will be able to record their CPD based on the time spent on the activity and the impact that it has on patient care. Each CPD credit is defined as ‘1 hour of learning’, and GPs will be required to gain a minimum of 50 credits each year for revalidation. Learning credits can be obtained through a variety of means including attendance at educational meetings, completing online resources, or reading articles.

These time-based credits can then be multiplied by a factor of two if impact is also shown to have occurred. Impact can be demonstrated in a number of ways including on:

• patients (e.g. through change in practice or implementation of a clinical guideline)
• the individual (e.g personal development such as through learning a new skill)
• service (e.g. becoming a training practice)
• others (e.g. through training/teaching).

Professor Nigel Sparrow, Chair of the RCGP Professional Development Board, will provide further information on the RCGP credit-based system and revalidation in an article in the December 2009 issue of Guidelines in Practice. In addition, a series of articles on CPD and gaining credits, with examples of how to demonstrate impact, will be featured during 2010.

Julia Morris, Editor
julia.morris@mgp.ltd.ukG