General Interest
Medical Board of Australia and Medical Council of New Zealand Changes to CPD The introduction of the Professional Performance Framework in Australia and Strengthened Recertification in New Zealand will reform the way medical practitioners obtain and preserve your knowledge and skills for ongoing professional practice. The changes to CPD aim to raise its quality and effectiveness through enabling optimal CPD by maintaining and enhancing the performance of doctors. This can be achieved through efficient, effective, contemporary, evidence-based CPD relevant to your scope of practice. The key changes are designed to increase quality, effectiveness and choice. The College has continued to remain abreast of developments from both the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) and Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ). The MCNZ released their model for recertification requirements for vocationally registered doctors practising in New Zealand in November 2019 and the MBA released their draft CPD registration standard in July 2019, consultation periods have followed this. As a part of the CPD reforms, the College is implementing a new CPD portal. This platform was chosen in mid2019 after testing a number of options. Guidance from our Professional Practice Committee (FCR) and Post Fellowship Education Committee (FRO) has
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Inside News
ensured that the new platform will have enhanced usability, a fresh new look and be fit-for-purpose for the changes to the College’s CPD program. Some of the notable changes to the CPD program as per the MBA and MCNZ reforms are: • CPD will now be completed on an annual cycle (previously trienniums). The College is working towards the first annual cycle commencing in 2022. • CPD will be measured in hours (previously points). 50 hours of CPD will need to be logged for every annual cycle. Note pro rata arrangements will still be available for those members on parental leave, extended sick leave and other extenuating circumstances. • The MBA and MCNZ have stated that CPD activities will need to be undertaken across the following categories—measuring outcomes, reviewing performance and educational activities. It is anticipated that members will need to log a minimum of 12.5 hours per category, with the remaining 12.5 hours to be logged in any category of choice—to make the 50 hours in total.
A reminder: end of CPD triennium The 2021 calendar year marks the end of the 2019–2021 CPD triennium for members. By the end of 2021 all clinical radiology members are required to have logged 125 CPD points and radiation oncology members are required to have logged 130 CPD points. This is a revised amount due to the CPD exemptions set by the MBA and MCNZ due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please note there will be no further exemptions to CPD in 2021. In addition to this, there will be no annual compliance audit for the 2020 and 2021 CPD calendar years, however an overall triennium audit will still take place. A reminder that failure to meet the revised CPD requirements by the end of 2021 may put your medical registration and Fellowship at risk.
If you have any questions about the revised CPD requirements for 2019–2021 triennium, please contact the team at cpd@ranzcr.edu.au
