Chasing the CPD 2024 deadline

Each year and by 31 December, registered pharmacists are required to record and submit at least six (6) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) entries. These CPD entries should reflect activities in which a pharmacist has acquired knowledge and/or skills, which activities may include seminars, training courses and/or journal articles read amongst others.

Practising pharmacists are strongly advised to adhere to the submission deadline by submitting a minimum of six (6) CPD entries annually by 31 December each year. This requirement is in line with the Regulations relating to Continuing Professional Development (hereafter “CPD Regulations”).

CPD entries must be submitted online on the SAPC CPD system. Pharmacists are required to keep a separate electronic portfolio of the evidence concerning their submissions. Recording of CPD activities helps pharmacists reflect on their professional pharmacy practice, identify knowledge and or skills gaps, fill in the gaps, and evaluate the impact of the acquired knowledge and or skill on their professional pharmacy practice. It empowers the pharmacist to exercise mindful professional practice, and it promotes an individualistic approach to learning.

Pharmacists are encouraged to submit at least one (1) CPD entry every two (2) months to avoid rushed submissions towards the submission deadline. Although Council grants a CPD submission grace period after the end of the official submission deadline, pharmacists are encouraged to submit all required entries by 31 December each year.

Designation as practising and non-practising

A pharmacist who is neither a Responsible Pharmacist nor a tutor, who fails to comply with CPD requirements (i.e. submission of at least six (6) CPD entries) by the end of the grace period) will be designated as non-practising pharmacist. A non-practising pharmacist is forbidden from practising the prescribed scope of practice of a pharmacist including but not limited to; working in a clinical setting/set-up with patients, any management or administrative work, advisory and policy development roles, and any other roles that require one to be registered as a pharmacist to function.

Referral for disciplinary action

A pharmacist who is a Responsible Pharmacist and/or tutor who fails to comply with CPD requirements (i.e. submission of at least six (6) CPD entries) by the end of the grace period) will be referred to disciplinary Committees for disciplinary action to be instituted against them.

Compliance requirements for practising pharmacists

For a pharmacist to be considered CPD complaint for the year they must have submitted all the required six (6) CPD entries by the end of the CPD grace period. Upon submission of a specific CPD entry, ensure that the correct year is selected to align with the year of submission, i.e. 2023.

When submitting a complete CPD entry, pharmacists can either select “submit for compliance” or “submit for peer review”. The chosen peer reviewer will receive a notification to accept the responsibility of peer reviewing a complete and submitted CPD entry. The entry submitted for peer review is automatically submitted for compliance. Should the peer-selected not review the entry, the pharmacist who submitted the entry for peer review will not be disadvantaged.

At the end of the CPD submission cycle, pharmacists who are compliant with the CPD requirements will remain designated as practising and will receive a CPD compliance certificate and a congratulatory letter.

When is a CPD entry not submitted?

A CPD entry that has not been completed and submitted (i.e. not all steps of the CPD cycle were completed or all steps were completed but the entry was not submitted) will not count towards the CPD compliance of a pharmacist. The entry will reflect either of the two (2) statuses:

  • “Pending” means not all the steps of the CPD entry have been completed (i.e. reflection, planning, implementation and/or evaluation. The Pharmacist must ensure that they complete all steps of the CPD entry and submit the entry.
  • “Awaiting submission” means all steps of the CPD entry have been completed, however, the pharmacist did not click on the submit tab under the evaluation step. The pharmacist ensures that they submit the entry.

Archived CPD entries

To allow for the current year’s CPD submissions, CPD entries for the previous year are archived. Archived CPD entries count towards the total number of CPD entries required to determine compliance with the previous year’s CPD requirements e.g. during the year 2024, the 2023 archived CPD entries will count towards the 2023 CPD submission requirements and will determine if a pharmacist is CPD compliant provided that six (6) CPD entries have been submitted

Online application for change of designation

Pharmacists who have been involuntarily designated as non-practising for failing to comply with CPD requirements may complete an online application to change their designation status from non-practising to practising. The non-practising pharmacist will be required to submit the outstanding CPD entries prior to the finalisation of the change of designation application. The pharmacist is required to upload the manual commissioned application on the online application.

Non-compliance of Tutors and Responsible Pharmacists

It is mandatory for pharmacists who are tutors and Responsible Pharmacists to always be designated as practising and compliant with the CPD requirements. Pharmacists who occupy these two (2) sub roles and fail to comply will be referred to the Professional Conduct Department to institute disciplinary processes.

Resources for CPD success

The Office of the Registrar has made a multiplicity of resources available for pharmacists to ensure success in their CPD submissions. Pharmacists are encouraged to access the CPD Guidance Document and the how-to articles and videos, among others, via the SAPC CPD Blog at www.sapc.za.org/CPDBlog

There is also an official SAPC YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/c/OfficialSAPC ) that has tutorials and recordings of previous CPD Masterclass sessions, which may be accessed at any time to learn and refresh your memory on the CPD requirements, submission steps and other important guides for submitting CPDs. A full CPD playlist is available at this link https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjQFcZEBjnWjNGAnj_C08qC3Nch9QAikq

view all articles

Share this article