Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Health & Social Care Organisations

Evaluation and measurement of CPD in Health & Social Care, is a meaningful process that will enhance both the performance and outcome for service providers and users. The importance of outcome driven learning goals that are; measurable against performance being crucial steps in ensuring that the CPD strategy is robust and clearly manageable against the quality assurance framework of the service provider.

Nursing, Social Care and GP provisions, there are national bodies that have formalised frameworks that support CPD; which are linkable to internal organisational competence based learning outcomes. These are reflected in a varied range of both formal, mentoring and peer assessment that enhance a professional’s commitment to the organisation, while ensuring, attainment of career goals.

Institutions that are engaged in formalising this method of CPD ensure that ownership is ‘person centric’, led from the core of the organisation ‘its care personnel’ ensures that all ‘stakeholders’ are involved from the start. This participation in business organisations has proved to be a wide ranging success formula, as stakeholders take ownership of the process of learning and in doing so, ensure that the strategic requirements for CPD, are ‘mirrored’  and ‘driven’ by the achievements of quality targets and mission outcomes for the whole service provision and ultimately to the service users.

Where the ‘stakeholders’ are involved from the beginning, evaluation and review process have improved and become embedded organisational led approaches, in that; where structural faults materialize in processes, like recording systems, the professionals engaged in CPD offer solutions voluntarily, and thereby improve upon the CPD strategy and process, ever mindful that the core aims from the rationale for CPD, are the focus for evaluation through the engagement of users and ‘non professional stakeholders’ that ultimately, ensure that the CPD programme is engaging, effective and continuous.