Medical Council consultation on recertification

Sector news
18 September 2018

Have your say on changing recertification requirements

The Medical Council is conducting a consultation on Towards strengthening recertification requirements for vocationally-registered doctors in New Zealand. The outcome of this consultation is likely to have an impact on both the College’s continuing professional development programme, and on the activities that GPs will be required to undertake in order to demonstrate their commitment to high quality continuing professional development.

College staff have already met with Council staff to improve our understanding of the proposals, and will be working with our Board, Educational Advisory Group, National Advisory Committee, and the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine on our response. We are also keen to hear from GPs and Rural Hospital Medicine Specialists, and to ensure that their voice is heard.

The current consultation is a follow-up to a consultation conducted by the Medical Council in 2017. That consultation resulted in a considerable amount of feedback from GPs, and a strong College response. During that consultation, we received over 360 responses and are very grateful to those members who added their voice to our submission. Particular areas of concern highlighted by the College in its submission included that:

In their current form, Professional Development Plans were not viewed favourably by some GPs.

A requirement that doctors have an “annual structured conversation with a senior designated colleague” was effectively making regular practice review a mandatory requirement.
Specific requirements aimed at older doctors were not an appropriate component of a recertification programme.

We are pleased to see that the current consultation document addresses most of the concerns we raised. In particular, the requirement for an “annual structured conversation” has been removed, as have the age-related requirements.

We encourage you to read the revised consultation document, and to consider how the principles outlined might apply in general practice and rural hospital medicine. Once the Medical Council has finalised its requirements, the College will need to look at our own continuing professional development programmes to ensure that these meet those requirements. That will likely mean changes. The College will be conducting its own consultation at a future date, and will be seeking your feedback on a new College programme at that time.

Feedback on the current consultation can be provided by emailing consultation@rnzcgp.org.nz before 5pm on Friday 5 October. Should you wish to provide your feedback directly to the Medical Council, you can also complete an online feedback form.

The proposed approach

The Council has proposed the following core components as a basis of a strengthened approach to recertification.

These are:

A profession-led approach, appropriate to scope of practice.
Increased emphasis on evidence, value of activities & peer review.
Education and development relevant to workplace and career planning.
Use of a professional development plan (PDP) to guide learning.
Offering regular practice review.
Specified CPD hours and type.

Further detail is available in the consultation document.

Questions to consider

The College would appreciate your thoughts on the proposed approach, and how it might apply to general practice and rural hospital medicine. The Council proposes some questions to consider:

What are your thoughts about the key components of the proposed strengthened recertification approach?
What suggestions do you have about how these key components could be implemented in recertification programmes?
Do you foresee any challenges with implementing the proposed approach? What are these and why?
Are there any specific implementation concerns for recertification programme providers (in most cases these are medical colleges)? Do you have any suggestions about how these issues could be resolved?
Do you think there are any recertification activities that should be mandatory for all doctors?
What kind of peer review programmes might work best for you/your organisation? Do you foresee any issues for recertification providers to offer RPR as an option for doctors?
Do you have any other comments or suggestions about the proposed approach that might assist with a smooth implementation?