Q. I am returning to practice after a period of absence and am concerned about how I can catch up with professional competence. Any advice?

A. Doctors may need to take leave from practice for a number of reasons. This is understandable – life happens and achieving CPD is sometimes not feasible. However, it is important that you try to make up extra CPD when you return to practice. Here are some suggestions:

• If getting out and about is an issue, online learning offers a good opportunity to achieve CPD whenever suits you without having to travel. There is a range of e-learning modules available on the education section of the ICGP website. These can all be accessed free of charge to ICGP members.
   
• If you are short on internal credits, a patient survey may be a good option. It is also a useful means of getting valuable feedback from the patients' perspective which could
  help identify areas for improvement.
   
• You could also consider undertaking a quality improvement project such as a review of record-keeping, updating practice software or carrying out a review of health and safety standards in the practice.