Chief Nursing Officer for England, Ruth May, led the fight for funding to increase access to continued professional development (CPD), which is now secured by NHS England and NHS improvement. We know CPD is required for revalidation with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2021).
General practice nurses (GPNs) engage in CPD because it is a mandatory condition for remaining registered to practice. Funding CPD is also a way to support improvements in patient safety, staff development and job satisfaction (Mlambo et al, 2021). We know we are required to complete 35 hours of relevant learning over a period of 3 years which is relevant to one's area of practice. Of those 35 hours, 20 of those must include participatory learning. One CPD point is equal to one hour of active learning.
We are expected to identify CPD funding in our appraisals and discussions with our managers. We need line managers' support to attend training courses, and for some update sessions. Training should be relevant to the role and align with workplace priorities, linked to personal professional requirements, as well as system and population health priorities.
The Primary Care 2020/21 CPD allocation has been calculated using the September 2019 NHS Digital General Practice Workforce data. This may not be up to date and further work is required. But for now, we must work with what we have got. CPD funding equates to £1000 over the next 3 years, equalling £333 per year. And we know this funding is an investment solely for CPD and cannot be used for funding backfill.
But do you know how to access CPD? Do you know who your training hub education lead/regional educational lead is? Are you involved in scoping courses/study days? If not, why not and what will you do to ensure you are part of the process? We must utilise our CPD funding as nurse colleagues living in Sweden, Netherlands and Ireland participate in CPD of their own volition. We'd love to hear your thoughts on access to CPD at pn@markallengroup.com
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