On reviewing your Professional Competence annual Statement of Participation we note that you have not recorded sufficient CPD credits and/or a clinical/practice audit for the last term 2018 – 2019 Professional Competence Scheme.   Please note this information below is based on an automated report on a given date /time from your PCS portfolio and if you note any discrepancy, please bring it to our attention.

Term	External (20 min)	Internal (20 min)	Personal Learning (5 min)	Research & Teaching (desirable)	Total Credits (50 min)	Clinical / Practice Audit	Credits on Target
2018-2019

It is important to be aware that this year for the first time, RCSI are required to provide the Medical Council the registration numbers and names of all registered Medical practitioners (RMPs) who have not met the minimum requirements in terms of CPD credits accrued (internal (20), external (20), personal learning (5), research/teaching making a total of 50 credits) in the year ending April 30 2019. This information will be sent to the Medical Council in June 2019.

 

You should now login to your PCS profile https://pcs.rcsi.ie/and review your credits.  You may not have reached the target for one of the below reasons:

• You have attended and engaged in CPD activity but have not recorded it on your profile.
• You have completed a clinical audit but have not recorded it on your profile.
• You are not sure how to record certain activities particularly internal and personal learning activity.
• You are not comfortable using the online Professional Competence Scheme (PCS) recording system.
• You have recorded 50 credits but your Statement of Participation states that your credits are “not on target”.  This may be because you did not meet the minimum requirements in each of the categories.

 

You should now login to your PCS profile and review your credits.  Please note you can still upload valid credits for the PCS term 1^st May 2018 – 30^th April 2019 and for any previous year you have enrolled in the Scheme.   We would ask that you update and record your activities on or before Friday 31^st May 2019. 

 

In addition, please note that you must also re-enroll in PCS for the current year 2019-2020 and pay the appropriate fee before you complete the annual retention of registration process with the Medical Council towards the end of June. RCSI is also required by the Medical Council to provide the Council with a list of all doctors who have re-enrolled in PCS and paid the appropriate fee by the time the doctor completes the annual retention process with the Medical Council.

 

If you have not:

1. Identified and recorded additional credits that bring your total credits and the credits in each category above the minimum level required, and;
2. uploaded (or have available) all the appropriate evidence to support your CPD credits for the completed PCS year (which ended 30 April 2019), and;
3. re-enrolled in PCS and paid the appropriate fee for the PCS year beginning 1 May 2019 ( or are now exempt from this requirement)

 

then it would be appropriate, when you complete the Annual Retention Form (ARF) with the Medical Council, to tick No to statement 2 “I am maintaining professional competence pursuant to CPD requirements [YES/NO] “

 

If you were absent from practice for a period of three months or greater due to illness or maternity leave during the year ended 30/04/2019 and have not already notified us and had your statement annotated, please contact the professional competence office (pcs@rcsi.ie) and we will arrange for you to complete a separate declaration to this effect and annotate your Annual Statement of Participation.

 

Please note that doctors who are found to have made a false declaration in the Annual Retention of Registration may be subject to regulatory action which could result in sanction, limitations on your practice, suspension or erasure from the register. Once the Medical Council initiate regulatory action, we will not be able to assist you with this process and we advise that you respond to all communications from the Medical Council promptly with the benefit of appropriate legal advice.

 

While the Medical Council have indicated to us that they do not intend to take regulatory action against those who truthfully declare that they are not compliant with the requirements, you will be in breach of your obligations under the Medical Practitioners Act and this could result in regulatory action against you.

 

If you require further advice on the operation of the Professional Competence Scheme or support in meeting the requirements, please contact us at (pcs@rcsi.ie) or consult our website. If you have any queries about the annual retention process or other matters relating to your registration, you should contact the Medical Council directly.

If you are no longer on the Irish Medical Council’s Register, or have entered the Training Division of the Medical Council Register, please notify this office by email pcs@rcsi.ie as this will allow us update our records and ensure that you do not receive unnecessary communication in relation to the PCS.

Yours sincerely

 

Professor Sean Tierney BSc MCh FRCSI
Dean of Professional Development and Practice