10 Oct 2019
Vets and nurses will now be able to “pause” CPD for up to six months as well as be given a one-off chance to carry over accrued hours.
Holly Kernot
Job Title
Vets and VNs will be able to pause their CPD requirements for up to six months and carry over some of the hours they accrue this year under new measures announced by the RCVS today (10 October) to smooth transition to its new model in 2020.
Earlier this year, the college announced it would be transitioning to an annual CPD requirement as of January 2020, when vets will be required to complete 35 hours of CPD each calendar year and VNs 15 hours.
This replaces the previous requirement of 105 hours and 45 hours of CPD over a rolling three-year period for vets and VNs, respectively.
These changes sparked some concerns from veterinary professionals, and, to allay these fears, the college has now made two key additions to its CPD policy to support vets and VNs through the transition.
The first change will give vets and VNs the option to take a “CPD pause” when personal circumstances have to be taken into consideration.
This means that, for planned periods away from work – such as parental leave, and exceptional circumstances such as serious ill health or unforeseen changes to family responsibilities – professionals can pause their CPD requirement for up to six months, without the need to make up the hours when they return to work.
The second change is that the RCVS will allow for vets and VNs to carry over some of the CPD hours they’ve accrued in 2019 into 2020, to smoothen the transition to the annual hourly requirement. Vets will be allowed to carry over 25 hours and VNs 10 hours.
However, this will only be able to be applied once, and is only applicable to those who have been CPD compliant from 2017-19 and have surplus hours.
RCVS director of education Linda Prescott-Clements said: “We received a sample of feedback from some members of the veterinary professions regarding the move to annual hourly CPD requirements, and these additions have been introduced to support members during this transition and to mitigate some of the concerns raised.”
For more information, visit the RCVS website.
