Broughton, W., & Harris, G. (2019). Principles for continuing professional development and lifelong learning in health and social care. Bridgwater. https://www.bda.uk.com/uploads/assets/3830abb3-e267-4f5c-a93e7c3aca843ffe/cpdjointstatement.pdf
Sub Topics
Service users expect individuals and teams to have and use up-to-date knowledge, understanding and skills appropriate to their area of practice.
The health and social care workforce operates in a constantly changing, challenging and complex environment. Developing new knowledge, skills and ways of thinking will help you to accept new and flexible ways of working which are based on evidence, and contribute to improving services. To do this, there needs to be investment in effective, supported and quality CPD and lifelong learning for everybody.
A shared commitment to developing a well-resourced and effective workforce will improve the quality of service delivery, improve outcomes and reduce risk.
The table below lists the benefits of CPD and lifelong learning to you, service users and organisations.
- Encourages a positive learning culture
- Improves skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking and working
- Makes you feel valued, motivated and confident
- Develops your career and helps you to move between sectors and roles
- Makes you feel able to drive change and innovation
- Means you remain fit to practise and meet regulatory body standards (including codes of conduct)
- Keeps you up to date with changing technology and service demands
- Improves experience and outcomes
- Makes you feel safe and confident in the services provided
- Increases satisfaction with services
- Contributes to up-to-date and evidence-based services
- Influences service development
- Improves the quality of service delivery
- Supports recruitment, keeping staff, and creating a flexible workforce
- Adds to the mix of skills and productivity of staff
- Improves performance
Principle 1: CPD and lifelong learning should be each person’s responsibility and be made possible and supported by your employer
| You | You are responsible for regularly planning, prioritising, carrying out, applying and reflecting on CPD and lifelong learning. You appreciate and recognise that valuable learning can happen in both planned and unplanned situations. You are responsible for identifying and demonstrating the benefits of learning to influence and gain support from your employer (if this applies) |
| Your employer | Has a responsibility to make sure that you are safe, up to date with current practices and can meet the needs of service users, in line with your professional standards. Provides fair access to time, study leave and funding to allow you to: l plan learning l carry out learning, and l think about the outcomes of learning. Encourages and supports access to learning that is separate to statutory and compulsory training, for the benefit of service users. Provides and supports access to resources (for example, technology) when they are needed. |
| The wider system | Is responsible for creating and promoting opportunities for integrated learning across teams. |
Principle 2: CPD and lifelong learning should benefit service users
| You | Your learning should develop new knowledge and skills, add to your existing skills, and provide opportunities to initiate and reinforce best practice. Your learning should be relevant to the needs of your service users or your employer (or both) and used in your area of practice. |
| Your employer | Is responsible for identifying the needs of service users to guide how relevant your learning is. |
| The wider system | Is responsible for supporting and promoting quality CPD and lifelong learning that benefits service users. |
Principle 3: CPD and lifelong learning should improve the quality of service delivery
| You | You explore and use ways to show how your learning has improved the quality of your practice. Your learning and the outcomes of your learning improve the quality of your service delivery and reduce risk. You identify opportunities to learn from and share learning with others. |
| Your employer | Encourages a culture of learning from experiences with positive outcomes, as well as from situations that did not go well. Supports learning opportunities between individuals, teams and networks, across services and organisations. Supports learning activity with time, staffing and resources to improve the quality of their service. |
| The wider system | Provides resources for quality learning through management, workforce and service delivery plans. Evaluates the effect of an appropriately qualified workforce on the quality of services. Has systems in place to assess the quality of CPD and lifelong learning activity. |
Principle 4: CPD and lifelong learning should be balanced and relevant to each person’s area of practice or employment
| You | Your learning should include activities across the following four areas: l Health and social care l Learning and education l Leadership l Evidence, research and development. (Adapted from: NHS Education for Scotland, Four Pillars of Practice, 2012. See reference 2 on page 14). You take part in a range of learning activities, both formal and informal, as well as active and reflective (where you think about what you have learned). You take part in learning that is relevant to, challenges and develops your current or intended area of practice. Your learning meets relevant organisational, professional or regulatory standards. |
| Your employer | Recognises and supports learning across the following four areas: l Health and social care l Learning and education l Leadership l Evidence, research and development. Provides opportunities for a range of learning, including employees learning with and from each other. Responds to your learning needs within a constantly changing, challenging and complex environment. |
| The wider system | Promotes the value of a range of learning activities. Recognises and reinforces that the most important parts of learning are the outcomes. |
Principle 5: CPD and lifelong learning should be recorded and show the effect on each person’s area of practice
| You | You are responsible for keeping a record of your learning that demonstrates: l what you learnt l how it adds to or develops your area of practice, and l the effect on service users or service delivery. You are responsible for accessing, promoting and using the resources available to you to support your CPD and lifelong learning. You are responsible for making sure you respect service users’ confidentiality. |
| Your employer | Provides time, resources and opportunities to allow you to record and think about the outcomes of learning. Provides the opportunity to share the outcomes of learning across organisations. Has systems in place to monitor and audit fair access to CPD and lifelong learning activity. |
| The wider system | Raises awareness of existing and new resources to support recording and thinking about the outcome of learning. |
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