The hard work and upskilling of GPs during the COVID-19 pandemic has been acknowledged by an automatic allocation of CPD points for RACGP fellows
GPs’ time spent reading about COVID-19, mastering telehealth, and doing crash courses in immunology, has been rewarded with all RACGP members receiving 25 CPD points in recognition of their efforts.
GPs who log into their CPD dashboard with the RACGP can see the CPD points, which were added to every members accounts last month.
The points, equivalent to 12.5 hours of non-accredited educational activities, are to recognise the rapid education that has been required of GPs since the beginning of the Australian pandemic response.
The news may come as a surprise to GPs who have not checked their CPD dashboard in some time, following earlier announcements from the Medical Board of Australia that there would be an amnesty period on CPD until the end of the year.
But for those doctors who have felt their education was interrupted by cancelled conferences, the extra CPD points are a welcome addition.
Dr Genevieve Yates, RACGP education manager, told Australian Doctor that the College appreciated that all GPs had done a lot of CPD to get across everything related to COVID-19.
“It is not easy at times to record things like the work involved to get your practice ready for coronavirus — but that should all still count,” she was quoted as saying.
And the points awarded to RACGP members won’t prevent doctors from being able to earn additional CPD this year by participating in other accredited education about COVID-19, the RACGP has assured.
The awarding of the CPD points to all RACGP members comes at the same time as legislation outlining the future role of CPD homes was recently passed by the Senate.
The legislation will cut out the administrative role that colleges play in certifying to Services Australia that every GP has met their CPD requirements, mandated to be able to charge the higher Medicare rebate rate.
The changes mean that GP colleges would only be able to accredit CPD and set standards for GPs who choose them as their CPD home, which would no longer be limited to only the RACGP and ACRRM.
