On 10 December 2019, the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) published the Board Notice (BN201) disclosing the categories of persons, registered in terms of Section 14 of the Pharmacy Act, who are required to record their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities in terms of Regulation 2(1)(a) of the Regulations relating to continuing professional development (CPD Regulations).
What has changed?
From 01 January 2020, all pharmacists, including community service pharmacists, are required to comply with CPD requirements. The SAPC launched a new and simplified CPD submission system in February 2020. All CPD activities that were submitted before 1 February 2020 are now saved under Archived Documents on the new CPD system, as ‘older entries’.
All pharmacists are required to complete their annual declaration online. Pharmacists who indicate that they perform one or more of the acts pertaining to the scope of practise of a pharmacist will be designated as “Practising” while those who do not perform any acts pertaining to the scope of practise will be designated as “Non-Practising”. On submission of the annual declaration, registered persons will have access to the CPD system.
All pharmacists designated as “Practising” are required to comply with the minimum CPD requirements regardless of the Sector of Pharmacy they practise in, their employment status and age.
The CPD Cycle
All registered persons who are designated as “Practicing” were previously required to participate in CPD by only following the four-step CPD cycle (Reflection, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation).
Council has updated the CPD system to allow registered persons to submit a maximum of 3 CPD activities following a two-step process. These are CPD activities in which only the implementation and evaluation steps of the CPD cycle may be completed.
Practising vs Non-Practising
Practising: registered persons currently providing one or more of the acts pertaining to their scope of practice. All pharmacists declared as practising will be expected to comply with the CPD requirements. The SAPC will take the necessary measures against those who do not comply.
Non-practising: registered persons currently not providing one or more of the acts pertaining to their scope of practice and who have declared themselves as such on the SAPC register. These persons are not required to comply with CPD requirements but will have access to the CPD system.
What does this mean for pharmacist with sub-roles?
Pharmacists with sub-roles such as Tutors, Assessors and Responsible Pharmacists are mandated to comply with the CPD requirements in order to obtain their sub-roles. If a person has been declared non-practicing their sub-roles will also be inactivated.
