CPD cycle 2022-24: the final stretch

A blog from Steve Brooker, Director of Regulatory Strategy.

Whilst it may not feel like it, with the warm weather outside, the end of the year is only just over four months away. And with the end of this year comes the end of the 2022-24 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) cycle. The cycle ends at midnight on 31 December and registrants will not be able to upload to their MyCPD account after this time. 
 
With the cycle’s end fast approaching, we’d encourage all fully-qualified registrants to head to MyCPD - accessed via MyGOC - today to see what requirements you still need to fulfil before the end of December. Remember, unlike previous cycles, in this cycle it’s your responsibility to upload points to MyCPD. 

Here's a reminder of some of those key requirements: 

Points and domains 

Most registrants need to obtain at least 36 CPD points. You must cover each of the four core domains – professionalism, communication, clinical practice, and leadership and accountability – obtaining a minimum of one point in each.  

If you have a prescribing specialty, you will need to obtain a further 18 points in the specialty CPD domain. Contact lens opticians need to obtain 18 points across the four core domains and 18 points from the specialty domain.  

A minimum of 18 points must be through ‘Interactive CPD’. This is any learning which involves either: 

• physical attendance with others such as lectures, workshops or peer review events; 

• distance learning which includes an element of interaction or meaningful engagement with your peers.  

However, points totals are adjusted pro rata for registrants joining part way through the cycle, and if you joined the register this year, the requirements for domains don’t apply. Please do check your dashboard on MyCPD to see your exact requirements.      

Peer review 

We are aware that the vast majority of registrants have already met their peer review requirements (80% as of the end of July).  

For those who haven’t, you will need to participate in at least one peer review before the cycle’s end. This allows you to share your own experience and expertise with colleagues and learn from theirs in turn. Both optometrists and dispensing opticians count as peers of each other for the purposes of the peer review exercise. For registrants with a specialty, peer review must be undertaken with a registrant holding the same specialty. The exception is contact lens opticians who can conduct their peer review with optometrists.   

A peer review event can either be a peer review delivered by a GOC CPD provider or a registrant-led peer review.  

Following your peer review, you must complete an anonymised reflection statement within your MyCPD account to capture your learning. 

If you joined the register this year, you don’t need to undertake a peer review.  

Reflective exercise 

You will need to carry out and document a reflective exercise before the cycle’s end. This is where you reflect on your professional development during the cycle through a discussion with a peer. We recommend doing this once you have completed most of your requirements in order to have a more meaningful discussion about progress against your personal development plan (PDP) and learning requirements. 

If you aren’t quite ready to carry this out, make sure you don’t leave planning it until too late. You should already be thinking about who your peer can be. This can include: 

• another optometrist or dispensing optician 

• your employer  

• another healthcare professional regulated by a statutory body.  

A relative, close friend or an employee would not be considered a peer. 

During your discussion, reflect on your progress against your PDP and CPD requirements, and on your professional practice more generally over the course of a cycle. You should also think about what other CPD activities you need to carry out for the remainder of the cycle (if any) and plan ahead for the next cycle.   

Once completed, you will need to complete and submit an online form on MyCPD documenting the discussion that took place. 

Self-directed CPD 

Although not a requirement, don’t forget to consider self-directed CPD which can be a simple way of gaining points as we enter the last few months of the cycle. In a nutshell, it’s any learning you carry out, relevant to your professional practice or development, which is not delivered by a GOC-approved CPD provider. 

Have you recently learnt something from an optical journal or article? Are you working towards an academic or vocational qualification? So long as it’s contributing towards your professional development, that’s self-directed CPD which counts towards your points totals.  

After you’ve carried it out, you must log it via your MyCPD account and complete a short reflection statement. 

Watch a short video on registrants talking about self-directed CPD they have undertaken. 

Check MyCPD today 

With the end of the cycle only four months away, we’d encourage you to log in to MyCPD to see what requirements you may still need to meet.  

If you want any further information, view our CPD webpages, read CPD: a guide for registrants, or get in touch with the team by emailing cpd@optical.org.