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The HPCSA reviews and amends their CPD requirements and processes on a regular basis. A few changes have been made since the beginning of 2022. I realise that the changes are worrying as practitioners are worried about non-compliance, so I thought to take a few minutes just to go through the major changes from 2022 to date.
Submission of points and issuing of certificates:
Firstly, since February 2022, CPD providers are required to submit CPD points on practitioners’ behalf. All evidence obtained from approved local CPD providers from 1 March 2022 to date, will be submitted automatically by the service provider to Council.
Providers are requested to submit points on a regular basis and we, at NextCPD, submit points at the end of each month. This implies that your points will be uploaded at the end of the month in which you complete a specific package or course. Providers submit points using an HPCSA template for point submission. Once submitted, the HPCSA uploads these points on their side. Once uploaded the HPCSA will inform both the provider and practitioner of the successful upload.
This was introduced to reduce the administration burden on practitioners. Practitioners are no longer required to submit/upload certificates to the HPCSA, as it was the practice, except if such was obtained from an unaccredited provider or it is level 2 activities (which does not require prior accreditation). As such, mandatory issuance of CPD certificates is obsolete and the HPCSA requested providers to no longer issue certificates as it creates confusion / attempt to load points more than once.
Practitioners can still upload evidence of CPD compliance obtained prior to 1 March 2023 onto the HPCSA’s portal for validation. Anything not approved, but recognised in terms of CPD guidelines, can still be uploaded for validation.
Compliance, audits and timelines:
The practice of random sampling of practitioners from the HPCSA database, to verify compliance to CPD requirements, was discontinued. All practitioners are expected to be compliant at all times.
There is no timeline for compliance, as it is a continuous programme and practitioners shall be compliant at all times. All evidence of CPD compliance is valid for 24 months and compliance is determined on a 24 month basis. If you are non-compliant, the HPCSA expects the practitioner to immediately rectify the situation.
So what does the 24 month basis imply in practice?
You need 30 points per year which should include at least 5 ethics points. Points have a 2 year “shelf-life” which implies that, should you do more than the required 30 points (including at least 5 ethics points) in any given year, you can use the points over and above the required 30 towards the 30 required for the next year. In other words, if you did 40 points in 2021, then 10 of those points can be carried over to 2022. Further to this, remember that you are required to do 30 points (including at least 5 ethics points) every year. You should in other words have 60 points including at least 10 ethics points for a two year (24 month) period. I mention this as many practitioners are currently receiving messages from the HPCSA indicating that they are not compliant and the reason is that the HPCSA now requires you to be compliant for 2 years at any given moment in time. You therefore need 60 active / valid points (including 10 ethics points) at all times (hence the 60 points, including 10 ethic points, indicated as required on your online HPCSA profiles).
I hope this somewhat clarifies the major changes since the beginning 2022. You are welcome to contact me if you need further clarification and, where I am unable to assist, we will try our utmost to get your query clarified by the HPCSA.
