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Professional Competence
 

What You Need to Know about Professional Competence

Home/Learn and Develop/Lifelong Learning/Professional Competence/What You Need to Know about Professional Competence/Your Professional Competence Requirements
 

Your Professional Competence Requirements

Professional competence is a formal way of recording your lifelong learning as a doctor and highlighting your dedication to developing and maintaining key skills and competencies throughout your medical career.

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Requirements for Practice in Ireland

To practice in Ireland, doctors must be registered with the Irish Medical Council and be enrolled on a Professional Competence Scheme. This means, if you hold Supervised, General or Specialist Registration with the Medical Council, you are required, by law, to enrol on and engage in a Professional Competence Scheme that aligns with your medical practice.

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What You Need to Do to Meet Requirements

The Medical Council requirements run over the course of a Professional Competence Year, which begins on 1 May and ends on 30 April in the following year.

Over the course of a Professional Competence year you will need to:

All these activities must have been completed between 1 May and 30 April of the relevant Professional Competence year.  

Supporting evidence is required for the External, Internal and Research or Teaching CPD categories. Visit our knowledge base for more information about evidence for CPD.

The requirements outlined above will be kept under review in light of a protracted pandemic and the Medical Council will keep the COVID-19 section of their website updated with the latest information.

You must also renew your enrolment every year, before you submit your Medical Council Annual Retention.

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Recording Your Professional Competence Activities

You must record your CPD and Audit/Quality Improvement activities in an online platform provided for that purpose and keep documentary evidence that you have taken part in these activities.

Activities you record should reflect at least one of the 8 Domains of Good Professional Practice. Doctors on our Professional Competence Schemes record their activities in the ePortfolio for Professional Competence

Each year we issue you an Annual Statement of Participation in Professional Competence, which lists a summary of the CPD and Audit/Quality Improvement claims that you entered in your ePortfolio. The Medical Council may ask you for evidence of participation in a Professional Competence Scheme. Your Annual Statement of Participation is the appropriate evidence.

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Contact Us

We have a highly-experienced Professional Competence support team. They are always happy to answer your questions and advise you on how to maintain Professional Competence. The fastest way to contact this department is by logging in to our support desk.

  • If you need help with your ePortfolio, we can arrange a convenient time to work with you to ensure your records are up to date.
  • If you need advice on how to apply for CPD approval for your event submit your event title and proposed date and we will talk you through what you need to do.
  • Contact the Professional Competence Team at professionalcompetence@rcpi.ie. If you would like a callback, please let us know the best time and phone number to call you. .
  • Alternatively, you might like to visit our Professional Competence FAQs