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CPD at your fingertips

Published on 26 September 2024

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Research in practice

Continued Professional Development (CPD) has always been an integral part of the College’s member offer, and this year the College has developed a new approach to ensure all members are getting the most out of their professional home.

Discussing the importance of CPD, Professor Margaret Ikpoh, RCGP Vice Chair of Professional Development and Standards, said: “GPs are lifelong learners; we always want to keep up-to-date and there are always innovations in treatment and care happening.  We have a duty, for both patient safety and experience, to be fully informed of how best to manage their health and get the best outcomes for them. If I was seeing a healthcare professional, I would want to be confident that they were using the best, most current evidence for my care to make sure I was getting the right treatment.”

Last year, the College embarked on a review of its CPD offer for its members, to ensure that it was meeting their needs and providing value for their membership. “The College is our members’ professional home,” Margaret explained, “and we need to both welcome new members and look after current members.  So, we must ensure CPD is evolving with our membership and remains valuable for them.

“We know many, so members really appreciate the CPD options that we have, but we realised not enough of them were accessing this excellent training and support. We started by exploring the barriers to access and seeing how we could reach more people.

 “Our vision is for the College to be the real market leader in this area as we have so much insight and expertise. We started on this transformational project to make it more accessible – we want CPD at our members’ fingertips,” she said.

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The College has committed to investing time, money and resources into the digital learning experience, looking closely at how it can be easier to access and easier to use, with key changes to the digital platform coming soon.

The College has also looked at the expanding the content it is providing. “The key is making sure our training has something relevant for GPs at all career stages,” Margaret explained, “For example, we launched a free two-part webinar on the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA), which GP registrars are already telling us they find really useful. And we introduced a free webinar to support GP trainers. We had to be mindful of the administrative burden GP trainers already face and make sure our learning was as accessible and user friendly as possible.”

Margaret points to the relaunch of the One Day Essentials courses as another key success of this new approach. One Day Essentials are full-day online clinical conferences, developed and delivered by leading experts in the field. They are delivered live but are available ‘on demand’ too. The conferences cover key topics from the GP curriculum, such as women’s health, and provide essential information and practical tips to improve practice and patient outcomes. These have been made free to members since June this year.

Margaret noted: “We have seen members signing up to these courses in their thousands, in much higher numbers than we have seen in the past. They are proving really popular and feedback suggests members are finding them beneficial.”

The College has also launched new ‘Hot Topics’ for the Essential Knowledge Update (EKU) programme, which takes GPs through new or changing knowledge relating to key clinical areas and best practice, often exploring timely topics that are top of the public agenda.

“We want to make sure we are widening the door to CPD, so all of our members are able to access learning in a way that works for them and their career,” said Margaret.

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Members’ experiences of College CPD

Dr Jenna Hussain, GP Registrar in Torbay and South Devon

“So far in my career I have used the One Day Essentials the most. I recently went to one on women’s health which gave a good look at how to manage women’s health holistically and covered a broad range of issues. It touched on which areas can be sensitive and subject to change. I’ve signed up to the gastroenterology one next, these courses are helpful to fill in knowledge on topics you might not have had a placement. As a GP in training, it’s really important to be keeping up to date on more specialist issues, especially on areas like sexual health that are evolving all the time.”

Dr Ogechi Ernest-Amaziro, First5 GP in Northampton

“College CPD is so useful, especially for people like me who came here as an IMG – I'm originally from Nigeria and ended up training in the UK. The knowledge base can vary a little from country to country, so it’s good to be up-to-date on everything that might come my way. I’m also part of the ‘First 5’ group, which means you’re not a trainee any more, and it can feel a bit like you’re left on your own after years of training – CPD can help bridge the gap.

“I’ve really valued the CPD I’ve done on wellbeing. I wasn’t really used to talking and thinking about wellbeing as I’m from a culture of ‘just keep grinding on’. It was great to take a step back and think about things like work-life balance. Now I realise you need to pause and take a breath. It’s not a crime to make time for yourself, in fact it’s healthier for everyone.”

Dr Will Mackintosh, GP partner and trainer in St Clears, Wales

“For me, CPD is one of the unique things about being a GP, it’s part of our professional identity to be on the ball. It’s how we can remain flexible and responsive to patient need. I come from a long line of GPs, and when you think back to what conditions and patients my Grandad was treating, you see why we must always be evolving. I've been going for 12 years, but I don't know everything and have to keep learning.

“On a day-to-day level, when you're busy in practice spending some time learning gives you some peace and quiet to really think through your patients and process your plans. I am a reader and a contributor to InnovAIT -  the journal for GP Registrars and early-stage career GPs – I find that having the time to read up on a subject and write about it broadens my horizons and improves my practice.”