About the scheme

The Medical Practitioners Act (2007) requires all doctors to demonstrate ongoing professional competence through formal participation in professional development activities.

Since 1 May 2011, it has been mandatory for all doctors to register with a professional competence scheme run by one of the postgraduate training bodies – RCSI runs the scheme for those working in the areas of surgery and emergency medicine.

In addition to running the PCS, we also aim to assist doctors who are not engaged in training to satisfy the requirements of the Medical Council. At the request of the Health Service Executive National Doctors Training and Planning Office (HSE NDTP), RCSI provides dedicated educational courses for non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) through the Continuous Professional Development Support Scheme (CPD-SS).

Our programme includes an array of full-day and half-day courses in technical and non-technical skills for the surgical specialties, emergency medicine and others.

The CPD-SS also provides Human Factors in Patient Safety classes for all NCHDs, along with a range of online activities which allow those in non-training posts an easy and free way to accrue 20 external credits per annum.

Our courses are continually evolving in response to feedback from previous attendees and new modules are regularly introduced to reflect changes in the emergency medicine and surgical arena. Typically, a day-long course will provide the participant with 7.5 CPD credits.