career - HPC audit 2010
by Diane Spalding Head of Nutrition & Dietetics
Being selected for audit
I read with amusement Neil Donnelly’s editorial in a recent edition of NHD. Neil referred to the number of letters we received from the Health Profes- sions Council (HPC) over the space of a few days and of his relief at not getting one to say that he’d been selected for the HPC CPD audit. Well one Saturday morning in April when most dietitians I have spoken to received two envelopes from the HPC – I actually received three! On that morn- ing, the third envelope I opened was to inform me that I had been selected for the audit. It seems as though we have been talking about our first CPD audit for years within the profession and the date has suddenly crept up on us – and I was one of the first to be audited! The letter, dated 12th April 2010, stat- ed that I had been randomly selected for audit of my continuing professional development, and that I was required to complete a CPD profile to demonstrate activities undertaken in the past two years to meet the CPD standards. The letter informed me that I needed to send this to the HPC by 30th June 2010 and that I should pay my renewal fee and return my signed renewal form no later than 30th June 2010. It also stated that I could continue to practice my profes- sion while my profile was being assessed. I then felt a need to tell someone and share the shock of being selected. So, as it was a Saturday morning and I was not at work, I sent a text to all the members of my department to let them know – only to receive some sympathetic and some humorous responses back. They were then all on edge waiting for the post over the next few days in case all the letters to the selected few had not been sent out at the same time.
Draft profiles We have been talking about the CPD audit within my department for over a year now and we had all agreed that we would start to draft our CPD profiles and ensure that our portfolios were up to date in case we were selected for audit. We had looked at the HPC website and had read the regular articles in Dietetics Today. The one thing that I had found extremely helpful was the two example profiles
NHDmag.com Aug/Sept '10 - issue 57
produced by dietitians, and I would like to say a huge thank you to the two people who put their profiles together and were willing to share them with the rest of the profession. It is so much easier to write something when you have an outline that you can relate to with your own practice.
By December 2009 I had produced my draft profile and have occasionally revisited it over the past few months to update it – a bit like maintaining an up-to-date curriculum vitae. I must say that this preparation was very reassuring when I was selected, as it is not quite so daunting when you are familiar with what is required. After receiving my letter, I needed to complete my draft profile and to evi- dence it with appropriate and selected pieces from my professional portfolio. I trained in the days before we had stu- dent held portfolios, learning outcomes and documented evidence and so was well into my career before I started a professional portfolio. One thing that really helped me to develop and docu- ment my reflective skills was when I registered for the Diploma in Advanced Dietetic Practice in September 1993. I completed this after five years and then revalidated it five years later. I am now maintaining my portfolio for the BDA Professional Development Award.
Incentives and targets
Some people find it easy to motivate and discipline themselves into keeping documentation for their portfolios – I am not one of them and I found that the deadlines of the BDA Diploma ADP and Professional Development Award gave me the incentive and targets to do this. I have also been involved in training stu- dent dietitians for many years and I have found that by developing my own skills in reflection and documentation, I have been able to give students more guid- ance and support on this during their practice placements for their portfolios. After completing my CPD profile, I
referenced it with evidence from my portfolio – this included my annual review against KSF outline, my work objectives, list of CPD undertaken and selected pieces of reflection from my portfolio. I felt that this would demonstrate the range of
activities I use to keep up to date. The options for submitting the profile and evidence was either to send it by post or by email, so I scanned my evidence and sent it all electronically – before the end of May – over a month before the deadline! What a relief when I pressed the send button! I still have not heard the outcome, but, after an initial confirmation of receipt, I had a letter from the HPC saying that they would contact me with a decision within 8-12 weeks. However my registration has been renewed to 30th June 2012, so this means that I can continue to practice in the meantime.
Recommendations So what have a learnt from this that I can share with you, in case you are selected in two years time? I would recommend that you: • maintain an up-to-date portfo- lio – it’s much easier if you have all the evidence ready to support your profile. It doesn’t have to be detailed – quality is more important than quantity, but it is much easier to keep a record of your CPD and reflection immediately after the criti- cal incident, course or event than have to do it up to two years later;
• have a portfolio ‘buddy’ - this is worth considering if you find it diffi- cult to discipline yourself to main- tain your portfolio;
• don’t take the ‘it will never happen to me’ attitude - remember that anyone can be selected;
• start to draft your profile now - this is something you can keep up to date on an annual basis, so that you always have a profile which reflects the last two years of your CPD - this is excellent evidence to keep in your portfolio;
• ask someone who knows your work to peer review your profile before you submit it to the HPC – I had a friend and former colleague review mine and I found this to be extreme- ly useful as it really helped me to focus on the key points to include.
And finally, keep your fingers crossed for me that I actually ‘pass’ the audit!
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Diane Spalding previously worked in Leicestershire as Director of the Nutri- tion and Dietetic Service and at the Department of Health as the Dietetics Officer. Currently, Diane is Head of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, but will be leaving this post at the end of August to explore other things both in dietetics and aviation.
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