College of Paramedics: CPD thoughts

Gary Strong MCPara, National CPD Lead, College of Paramedics, Chair of the CPD Together Group.

Independent Consultant, Project Administrator for the CPD Together Group.

At first glance, it might appear that the answer would be obvious. As we know, all regulated health and care professionals in the UK are accountable as individuals, one way or another, for their own CPD. The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) asks for evidence at the point of renewal of registration. The Nursing and Midwifery Council asks for evidence in support of revalidation. The General Medical Council requires evidence of regular CPD and reflection on learning. Why should paramedics be any different to anyone else? For all this, the range of responses to our question confirmed to us that there was indeed a variety of opinions within the profession. Overall, 181 College members responded to the survey. For all the regulatory emphasis on individual accountability, over half of the respondents (n = 106) stated that CPD is a shared responsibility between the registrant and the employer. As the survey gathered qualitative rather than quantitative data, this gave members room to expand further, for example: ‘mixture of both but I think employers should provide regular training for staff within their role to ensure competencies are kept up; ‘mine to ensure I am compliant with HCPC, my employers to ensure they get the best out of me’. Just 28 respondents stated that CPD was solely their responsibility, and even here some pointed to the need for employers to provide support, in particular time, to engage in CPD activities. The finding from the question within our paramedic community, that CPD is a shared responsibility, is an opinion broadly held across a wide range of health and care professions. Paramedics are not unique in viewing and seeking a more balanced and collaborative approach to CPD. Since 2018, the College has led work with around 20 different professions and trade unions to define and promote the importance of and responsibility for CPD at an individual level, by employers and the wider systems of policy makers, professional bodies and commissioners. The Principles for continuing professional development and lifelong learning in health and social care, known now by its shortened name CPD Together, set out five principles for CPD (see figure one), each of which can and should be understood and applied by health and care workers and their employees, and those who lead the commissioning and development of health and care services.

Figure one: the five principles for continuing professional development and lifelong learning in health and social care

Each of the five principles has a set of targeted statements focusing on the contributions of the individual registrant, the employer, and the wider system (see figure two for an example)

Figure two: An example of Principle 3 and the statements for the individual, the employer, and the wider system.

One strength of the CPD Together resource is the number of professions who contributed to and subsequently endorsed the messages, showing a strength of opinion in the need to understand CPD as a shared responsibility. Of equal, if not greater importance is the need to reinforce that CPD plays a vital role in supporting safe and effective practice, as learning must be of benefit to service users and/or improve the quality of service delivery.

Service pressures in and around the NHS and social care make it challenging for a new resource to be promoted effectively and gain acceptance. Yet three years after the initial publication, the multi-professional group that produced CPD Together remain as passionate as ever about the importance of access to and support for high quality CPD. Therefore, work has begun to refresh the look and feel of the resource, to provide supporting resources to promote its value and to engage in new conversations, like this one, to raise awareness of the CPD principles. Our hope is that you will use the resource as an individual registrant e.g., in appraisals, supervision and when planning your own learning. We hope it will help you in discussions with your employer, or as an employer, to highlight the importance of continuing to develop as a professional. And we hope it places learning and development at the centre of the discussions on safe and effective practice. Equally our desire is for a clear understanding of the importance of CPD to be accepted and built into policy by employers and higher-level decision makers. Commissioning of services must take into account the need for employees to be fit for the purpose for which they are employed, and that means they will need time and support for effective CPD which improves patient outcomes and enhances patient safety.