Following a review of the General Optical Council’s (GOC) CPD scheme, registrants with a specialty, such as contact lens opticians and optometrists with prescribing rights, will now be able to obtain points in their specialty domain through self-directed Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Self-directed CPD allows registrants to count learning - such as reading a relevant article, giving a lecture or talk, or mentoring or supervising a colleague - from sources other than GOC-approved CPD providers, towards their points totals.
Registrants can claim points for activities completed at any stage of the current CPD cycle on MyCPD as self-directed specialty points.
Each piece of self-directed CPD is worth up to one point, with the exception of registrant-led peer review, which is worth three points.
The change came after the GOC reviewed its CPD scheme, to see how it has been received and whether it was meeting its objectives after 18 months, and if any changes would be beneficial.
It offers specialty registrants more flexibility in gaining CPD, especially during the final year of this cycle.
College members can gain free access to thousands of resources to support self-directed learning by registering on OpenAthens at: library@college-optometrists.org
The GOC also confirmed that, following a review, contact lens opticians will be able to participate in peer review with optometrists, in line with the CPD rules.
The GOC’s CPD: A guide for registrants has been updated to take the changes into account.