Online CPD continuing to make progress in Ireland

It is a year almost to the day since we first launched our first CPD site in Ireland with the Irish Institute of Radiographers and Radiation Therapists. I was back last Saturday in the Gibson Hotel where the launch took place at their annual conference.

The Gibson Hotel is itself an interesting place. It is located at the Point which is at the end of the Red Luas line next to the O2 arena. The location of both buildings is a little incongruous. They face onto the docks on one side and on the other the development that was meant to link these buildings with the main financial centre in Dublin has stopped, hopefully temporarily.

This structural picture in some senses reflects the challenges that we and the professional bodies we work with in Ireland, have faced over the past few years.

Health professional bodies in Ireland have been raising their game over the past few years. They want to be at the forefront of best practice. However the economic conditions in Ireland which have led to reductions in public spending, have made this harder to achieve.

However there have been factors that have mitigated the impact of the economy on the development of effective health professional bodies. The HSE, the Irish equivalent to the NHS clearly views them as partners in driving up professional standards. As a result they have encouraged and supported professional bodies to play a leading role in the development and delivery of CPD by directly funding CPD officers and programmes.

Their regulator CORU has proven to be equally helpful. Initially I sensed that professional bodies were nervous of CORU. They thought that they would take over responsibility for CPD. There were also concerned about other matters. Those professional bodies who have the title ‘Registered Member’ for members who have earned a higher status within their profession, recognise that this might need to change when in effect all members become registered with CORU.

However although these concerns remain the overall impression I have is that CORU is keen to forge a strong relationship with all professional bodies. Indeed arguably the professional bodies offer them the means to drive up engagement with CPD, which is so key to the effective operation of the Registers and improving patient safety.

At this year’s IIRRT conference I spoke to Margaret Murphy who is a Patient Advocate for the World Health Organisation. She received a standing ovation for her presentation. We both agreed that because Ireland is a small place, surrounded by water, it is a great place to drive change. It. There are relatively few universities that need to be influenced and relatively few ‘top people’ who need to be persuaded to bring forward change. Her primary concern is patient safety which ultimately is the objective of CPD.

At the conference it was heartening to hear practitioners sharing their best practice; it was great to watch the ‘coalface’ work of practitioners being shared and celebrated and it was encouraging to hear a profession welcoming the challenges of regulation. Over the last year it has been great to have been a part in this albeit even if it is a small way.