Apply for CPD Accreditation

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 accreditation, and in turn, you will have an opportunity to rectify them.  

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

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Is your Educational Activity Eligible for CPD Accreditation?

It is important to note that companies which produce, market, resell, or distribute products consumed by or used on patients are No Longer Eligible to seek accreditation for their educational activities. Applications for accreditation of activities organised and/or hosted by a single industry sponsor will no longer be accepted.  An accredited CPD activity can receive unrestricted commercial financial support, however the support must be managed appropriately.

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 (your activity should be predominantly aimed at post training doctors)
• NOT take place in the past (no retrospective applications will be accepted)
• state the educational needs of learners (knowledge, competence or performance) that the activity is based on
• 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 contain the name of an industry sponsor or product in its event and session/lecture titles
• not contain an Industry 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.

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Your responsibilities as an Activity Organiser

As the Organiser of an educational activity, you must do the following:

• identify and mitigate relevant financial relationships for all individuals involved in or in control of the educational content
• disclose to learners the presence or absence of relevant financial relationships for all persons in control of content, before the learner engages in the education
• disclose to learners the name(s) of any company that gave commercial support, and the nature of the support e.g. 'in-kind', prior to learners engaging in the education
• inform learners of who is responsible for the CPD activity and its accreditation
• ensure that all speakers include a slide on declaration of financial support received in the previous 24 months related/relevant to the topic of the event
• ensure that all promotional/non-accredited activity is confined to the exhibition area.  If there is no separate exhibition area, this activity cannot take place within 30 minutes before or after the accredited education activity
• keep a record of the amount or kind of commercial support received and how it was used
• provide evidence of attendance to all those who participate in the activity
• keep a record of all those who participated in the activity for a period of 2 years after the date the activity took place.  Organisers may be asked to provide a copy of this record in the future
• retain all activity files/records of CPD activity planning and implementation for a period of 2 years from the date of the activity
• provide a means for attendees to give post-event feedback about:
  1. Improvements in knowledge, skills, competencies during and/or after the approved activity
  2. Intent to change during and/or after the approved activity
  3. Improvements in learner performance (where applicable)
  4. Changes in patient health status (where applicable)
• submit a ‘Post Event Survey’ no later than 3 weeks after the activity has taken place.  A once-off link will be provided where Organisers can complete a survey.

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International Meetings and Conferences

If you are planning an event that will attract attendance from abroad, it may be necessary for you to seek accreditation 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 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 activity is eligible for consideration before you submit your application

Visit:  How to pay the assessment fee for CPD Accreditation

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Decision Process

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Supporting Information Required for Your 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