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Apply for CPD Approval

Home/Learn and Develop/Lifelong Learning/Apply for CPD Approval/What You Need to Know About CPD Approval
 

What You Need to Know About CPD Approval

 

Overview

Please be sure to read the guidance we have provided here.  It's important to remember that we need some lead in time to process your application, so you should submit it at least four weeks before you intend to advertise your activity.  This gives us time to check and advise you of any issues that may prevent approval, and in turn, you will have opportunity to rectify them.  

We are unable to provide retrospective approval after an education activity has taken place.

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Is your Educational Activity Eligible for CPD Approval?

To be eligible, your educational activity must:

  • take place in Ireland or be delivered online for Irish doctors using a tool such as Zoom or Panopto
  • target doctors who are not engaged in postgraduate specialist training
  • include learning objectives that have measurable outcomes and use action verbs such as ‘evaluate’, ‘identify’, ‘review’
  • meet our policy on Industry Sponsorship and Support in respect of sponsorship arrangements
  • have a designated Medical Organiser who holds Specialist Registration with the Irish Medical Council
  • not take place in the past
  • not contain the name of a sponsor or product in its event and session/lecture titles
  • not contain a sponsor’s corporate message, product name or logo on any of the educational material, which includes the event programme, poster presentations, slides, handouts and so on.

In addition, you must:

  • provide evidence of attendance to all those who participated in the activity
  • keep a record of all those who participated in the activity for a period of 12 months after the date the activity took place. You may be asked to provide a copy of this record in the future
  • provide a means for your attendees to give you post-event feedback about:
    • improvements in knowledge, skills, competencies during and/or after the approved activity
    • intent to change during and/or after the approved activity
    • improvements in learner performance (where applicable)
    • changes in patient health status (where practical)

International Meetings and Conferences

If you are planning an event that will attract attendance from abroad, it may be necessary for you to seek approval from the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME)

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How Much Does Assessment Cost?

  • Activity organised and/or hosted by a single industry sponsor: €1,500
    (e.g. a pharmaceutical or medical device company)
  • Activity organised and/or hosted by a professional/commercial education provider:  €1,500
  • Activity with multiple industry sponsors: €500
    Applications for an activity supported by multiple industry sponsors may not be submitted by an industry sponsor or by an agent acting on their behalf
  • Activity supported by an unrestricted educational grant: €500
    Applications for an activity supported by an unrestricted educational grant may not be submitted by an industry sponsor or an agent acting on their behalf
  • Unsponsored activity with registration fee: €250
    Activities supported by an academic institution, hospital, state body or charity can be included in this category
  • Unsponsored activity with no registration fee: No charge
    Activities supported by an academic institution, hospital, state body or charity can be included in this category.

The assessment fee is non-refundable so make sure your event is eligible for consideration before you submit your application

Visit:  How to pay the assessment fee for CPD Approval

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Decision Process

  • Once we have received your application and all the required information, we will assign an application reference number and begin processing your application
  • Administrative staff will validate your application and may revert to you for clarification if necessary
  • Once your application has been validated, it will be sent to a Clinician Reviewer for assessment
  • Lists of applications are normally submitted for review on a weekly basis
  • The Clinician Reviewer may request further information or clarification from you
  • If your application is approved, we will send you a confirmation of approval by email
  • To close the process you must submit a Post Event Report no later than 3 weeks after the event has taken place. We will provide you with a one-off link to an online form where you can quickly submit a structured report
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Supporting Information Required for Your Application

Invitation: Copy of the invitation that will be sent to prospective attendees

Website: Url of the relevant web page and access details if required to view the page have been entered in the application form

Advertisement: Copy of advertisement design as it will appear in electronic and/or print media

Programme: Final programme as it will be presented to attendees including:

  • details of faculty members, including their post and relevant experience
  • titles of lectures, workshops and sessions
  • start and end time of individual lectures, workshops and sessions

 If the required information is not included in the programme, enter it in the space provided on the application form  

Note:  A provisional or draft programme may not contain sufficient information to allow CPD approval and will not be accepted  

Learner feedback form: An example of the Learner Feedback Form that will be provided to attendees. If an online form is used, a screenshot, the url and relevant login details must be provided with this application

Use the application checklist (included in the application form) to make sure you have all the necessary documents to support your application

Use the Remittance Advice Form (Word, 736KB) to submit your assessment fee

Visit:  What must I include with my application?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Our Help Centre has a wide range of detailed solutions. if you can't find answers to your questions, you can use the centre to submit a support ticket, we will be happy to help

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