I am a retired GP, how can I meet the audit and internal credit requirements?

NB: Requirements for the 2023 2024 PCS year are 40 CPD credits and 1 clinical / practice audit.

Currently, retired GPs are required to achieve the same CPD and audit requirements set down for all doctors registered with the Irish Medical Council. ICGP is aware of the challenges that can arise for doctors in this position and have developed a set of guidelines to assist retired GPs with meeting their requirements.

ICGP runs a Retired and Semi-Retired GPs Discussion Group that takes place once a month (usually the second Friday of the month) in the ICGP offices at 4-5 Lincoln Place. Attendance at these meetings can be recorded for internal CPD credits with 1 hour of activity = 1 credit.

If you are acting in a professional advisory capacity, then the meetings relating to that role can also be recorded as internal credits. Likewise, you can record any meetings you might participate in to discuss medical legal cases. If you find yourself advising/mentoring younger colleagues, or people working in your former practice, this can be included where content is appropriate. A summary of the activity should be recorded as evidence.

You may also consider joining a relevant committee as a means of keeping up to date with general practice issues and as a way to contribute the benefit of your experience.

ICGP is frequently approached for experienced GP input onto a wide range of State and Voluntary organisations, and if you have an interest in this work, please contact Yvonne Costello, coordinator of the ICGP External Representatives on yvonne.costello@icgp.ie.

You could also form a journal club with other GPs. Articles read could be discussed, including how learning could be applied to real-life cases.

If you are an assessor or a board member or involved in another similar activity, you can record meetings for internal credits.

Likewise, your audit does not need to be a clinical audit. Rather, you should audit whatever activity you are currently engaged in. So, if you are involved in voluntary work related to your role as a doctor, you could do an audit around this, comparing your activity to best practice guidelines. This may also provide an option to link up with your former practice. A list of sample audit topics is available on www.icgp.ie/audit.