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PEP eKit - Coming Soon!

RCGP Scotland is delighted to inform members that PEP eKit, our new and dynamic Knowledge Interactive Test will soon be available to purchase online!

PEP eKit will enable GPs to complete on-line multiple choice questions on a range of useful subjects. This will provide GPs with assistance in identifying their own particular strengths and weaknesses as a means of managing their own Continuing Professional Development.

With the advent of GP Appraisal and the prospect of Revalidation, we felt that there was considerable demand for an up to date system to identify educational needs. In view of this, it was logical to link the redevelopment of PEP with Appraisal and Revalidation. RCGP Scotland therefore felt ideally placed to offer an online learning product specifically tailored to meet the professional development needs of GPs.

A considerable amount of work has been undertaken to ensure that the look and feel of this new educational tool is compatible with the existing design of the RCGP Scotland website. Work is also well underway in producing the content, instructions and terms and conditions for this new product. Users will be able to purchase single user and multiple user access via an on-line purchasing facility and discounts will be available to all College members. A peer review facility will also be added to allow individuals to compare their scores with others, if they so wish and as is the case with our existing range of PEP products, PEP eKIT will be relevant for all GPs working throughout the United Kingdom.

It is anticipated that PEP eKit will be available online, after a period of testing to ensure it is user friendly, by late Summer 2005.

We, at RCGP Scotland, hope that you will be as excited as we are at the advent of PEP-eKit. For further information, please contact the Projects & Initiatives Team Tel: 0131 260 6800.

For information about existing PEP products, visit our website at: http://www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk/products/pep.asp

Coming Soon... Drugs Misuse Training In Scotland

RCGP Scotland is pleased to announce that it has now secured funding from the Scottish Executive for candidates to receive a Certificate in the Management of Drugs Misuse in Primary Care Part 2. The course is currently being run in England and Wales and has proved extremely popular and successful. We are therefore very excited to be able to now offer this opportunity to GPs in Scotland.

Work is underway to produce an implementation plan to enable us to release details of the course dates soon.

The Drugs Misuse Certificate is aimed at all practitioners with a special clinical interest in drug misuse. Funding for the first year will be for 60 GP’s, 20 Pharmacists and 20 Nurses/Allied Health Professionals, providing a course for 100 practitioners.

If you are interested in this course, please contact RCGP Scotland for an application form. You may do this immediately on the understanding that you will have completed Part 1 by the time Part 2 commences. Places for Part 2 are limited, therefore, the earlier your application is received, the more likely you will secure a place.

Should you require further information or would like to note your interest please contact Les Elder, Clinical & Quality Initiatives Co-ordinator, on 0131 260 6814 or send your details to lelder@rcgp-scotland.org.uk

QOF Reviewer Training

Here's where we're at...

Members will be aware that since 1999 RCGP Scotland has been training reviewers to carry out Practice Accreditation (PA) visits. We have developed considerable expertise in the creation, management and administration of training programmes for practice based primary care.

As a result of our expertise, RCGP Scotland has been commissioned to train the QOF reviewers for all NHS Boards, in order to support quality initiatives in the new contract in primary care in the future.

The new GMS contract QOF review process will introduce routine visits to assess performance in all participating practices. Many of the organisational aspects of the QOF are based on the core elements of PA version 1A.

The QOF training programme commenced on the 1st April and is progressing at an amazing pace. Already we have trained 139 reviewers with a further 95 scheduled for full training throughout June. With this phenomenal start we are already ahead of the target of 400 reviewers to be trained by March 2006.

For further information on this project contact Diane Rich, Projects & Initiatives Team, drich@rcgp-scotland.org.uk

GPs Can Help Build A Health Service For the Future

The Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland welcomed the report into health service redesign in Scotland, which was published on 26 May 2005.

Dr Mairi Scott, Chair of RCGP Scotland, said:

“We welcome the publication of the Building a Health Service Fit for the Future report produced by Professor David Kerr and the National Framework Advisory Group and are particularly pleased to see throughout a focus on whole service redesign.”

“In addition the report highlights the importance on whole person care which involves patients, their carers and the public and recognises that the wider aspects of health care being based in local communities are so invaluable.”

“Professor Kerr has made particular emphasis on the long term nature of many conditions, the relevance of prevention and the difficulties of this in areas of deprivation which are crucial if we are to have an impact on the challenges we all face in maintaining the health of the people of Scotland.”

“We believe general practitioners because of their generalist skills can contribute much to the development of the service in line with the recommendations in the report.”

NHS24 Interim Report Published

The independent review team set up to evaluate the operation of the NHS24 service published its interim report on 2 June 2005. The report outlined a number of recommendations to enhance the service and a final report of the performance improvements that NHS 24 needs to make will be completed by September 2005. The Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland acknowledges the significant work being undertaken by the independent review team and will give careful consideration to the findings of its interim report. RCGP Scotland will endeavour to assist the independent review team in devising measures to enhance the delivery of out of hours care to patients across Scotland.

Scottish Online Appraisal Resource (for GPs)

NHS Education for Scotland's new Scottish Online Appraisal Resource is avaliable at www.scottishappraisal.com. Developed initially for GP appraisers, appraisees and local appraisal scheme managers across Scotland; this site offers general information about GP appraisal in Scotland and also access to a wide range of resources, feedback tools and online appraisal diaries. It will also soon offer access to a national online database of the learning and support needs of GPs (and - in time - other health care professionals) in Scotland and links to other related databases and online resources for CPD.

P³ - Join The Partnership

Patient Partnership in Practice is the public involvement group of the Royal College of General Practitioners (Scotland)

P3 meets 5 times a year to gather views from the public on the College’s contribution to the primary care agenda and, in particular, to take forward issues that matter to patients.

P3 is seeking new GP Members

We are recruiting new GP members to work with our 10 lay representatives as part of an active team whose aims are:

• Developing ideas and leading activities that encourage GPs to work in partnership most effectively with patients and public.
• Influencing activity in Scotland that impacts on the quality of patient care.

• Working together as a team to ensure that the activities of the College respond to patient needs.

If you would like to be involved in this opportunity to work alongside patients and lay representatives to enhance the quality of services provided by GPs in Scotland, please contact us for further information.

Policy & Committee Co-ordinator
RCGP Scotland, 25 Queen Street,
Edinburgh, EH2 1JX.
Tel: 0131 260 6800
Email: p3@rcgp-scotland.org.uk
www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk

Introducing Our Projects & Initiatives Team

RCGP Scotland’s Quality and Education departments have now merged to become the newly named Projects & Initiatives Team.

As a result of this restructure, Michelle Keenan, who was previously the Professional Development Manager for the education department, will now provide the strategic management of all quality and continuing professional development projects and external initiatives in her new role as Projects & Initiatives Manager.

Michelle will be supported in this role by Les Elder who has recently joined the team as Clinical & Quality Initiatives Co-ordinator and Julie Nolan as Projects Co-ordinator.

Les will now manage the operational aspect of all quality projects and initiatives by working with the Projects & Initiatives Team to contribute to the development of quality patient care.

Julie will be working with Michelle to scope a new post within the Team, which will have responsibility for managing the operational aspects of all educational projects and initiatives to contribute to continuing professional development for GPs in Scotland.

Susannah Lane, Stephanie Begley and Diane Rich will continue to provide excellent project administration services for the current projects and initiatives owned by the team.

Contact us on 0131 260 6800 or visit our website at www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk for staff contact details.

Did You Know?

The College is delighted to offer its congratulations to Rose Garden Medical Centre in Edinburgh, which successfully completed the Quality Practice Award on the 2nd March 2005. Congratulations also go out to Tam’s Brigg Surgery in Ayr who gained re-accreditation on 10th February 2005. This now brings the total of QPA awards up to 57, with 4 practices gaining re-accreditation.

628 practices have successfully completed the Practice Accreditation scheme, which finished on the 31st March 2005. Final figures will be available by the end of June 2005. Details of awarded practices can be found on our website at www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk/quality_and_standards.

13 candidates have been awarded Membership by Assessment of Performance to date, while 29 candidates are working towards it.

To date, 46 members in Scotland have achieved the Fellowship of the College via this route, with a further 3 applications.

Should you require any further information on anything contained in this section, please contact Les Elder, Projects & Initiatives Team on 0131 260 6814 or email via lelder@rcgp-scotland.org.uk

West Of Scotland Faculty Provide Revalidation Support

The West of Scotland Faculty has initiated a programme designed to provide support for their members through the Revalidation process. Two workshops on Audit and Significant Event Analysis and Video Consultation were held in April and May 2005. The workshops took the form of small group work and the evaluation indicated a very high level of satisfaction by those attending.

The evening session on audit, SEAs and Appraisal went very well. The small group format was well received and very appropriate for teaching audit as an educational tool rather than an assessment tool as most newer GPs have experienced it as registrars. The evening covered aspects of appraisal and single cycle and double cycle audits. Significant event analysis was also covered. Afterwards all attendees commented that they felt much more confident about audit and had ideas which they intended to implement soon. The evening was rated excellent by all in attendance.

The evaluations of the Video Consultation workshop were also extremely positive and those attending reported it a worthwhile experience which they think will help them to improve their consultation skills and be a better GP for their patients.

Following this success the faculty intends holding a further series of workshops in the autumn. For further information contact the faculty office. Email: gmacpherson@rcgp.org.uk

Happy Birthday EPASS!

RCGP Scotland’s Educational Providers Accreditation Scheme (Scotland) celebrated its first birthday on 1st April 2005 and the College is pleased to report that the scheme has gone from strength to strength. More than seventy organisations have now signed up to become EPASS providers, which means that hundreds of post-graduate educational events for general practitioners are now EPASS accredited within Scotland. To view EPASS accredited events on the RCGP Scotland website please visit: www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk

The success of the quality assurance scheme means that GPs across Scotland now have more support and assurance when choosing their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities. An educational event, accredited under the EPASS scheme, provides the assurance that it will be relevant to GPs’ educational needs. RCGP Scotland has been working with NHS Education for Scotland from the launch of the scheme, to ensure that GP appraisers are aware of EPASS and the significance of an EPASS event within a doctor’s appraisal folder.

Word is spreading amongst grass-roots GPs of the benefits EPASS offers, with regard to their personal development plan (PDP) and yearly appraisal. More and more GPs are seeking out EPASS accredited events and this is confirmed by the number of visitors to the RCGP Scotland website searching the EPASS events diary.

Mechanisms to quality assess EPASS events and thus ensure EPASS is a robust quality assurance scheme are firmly in place, following successful trials, and are now being rolled out across all EPASS providers. Dr Joe Wilton, Director of EPASS, leads the quality assurance side of the scheme and is delighted with the quality of EPASS events assessed thus far.

Dr Wilton said: “Ensuring high quality and relevant educational events for GPs is what EPASS is all about. GPs are more aware than ever before of the importance of quality CPD. Quality assuring EPASS events is a crucial part of EPASS as it ensures the scheme is robust and offers piece of mind to GPs, particularly for appraisal and revalidation”.

To find out more about the benefits of becoming an EPASS provider and/or attending an EPASS event, please visit RCGP Scotland’s website at www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk/epass or contact RCGP Scotland’s Projects & Initiatives Team on 0131 260 6800, e-mail: epass@rcgp-scotland.org.uk

EPASS: Quality Assurance Mechanisms

Dr Joe Wilton leads the quality assurance aspect of EPASS. Joe has worked with RCGP Scotland to devise mechanisms that deliver EPASS’s promise to quality assure educational events, but don’t overload EPASS providers with even more paperwork! A team of Quality Assurance Advisers (QA Advisers) help to implement checks across all EPASS providers.

There are two methods of quality assurance:

Event Visits: A Quality Assurance Adviser attends an EPASS accredited event as an observer to monitor quality against a series of quality markers.

Event Reports: Information collected at an EPASS event is assessed by a QA advisor. GP delegates at the event are also approached for their independent feedback.

EPASS providers receive comprehensive feedback and support on the outcome of the assessment of their event. This reflects the ongoing commitment and partnership between RCGP Scotland and EPASS Providers to deliver the highest quality educational events for GPs in Scotland.

Opportunities: EPASS Quality Assurance Advisers

We are looking for more EPASS Quality Assurance Advisers to join our existing team.

The successful candidate will:

• Represent and support the RCGP Scotland’s EPASS scheme

• Undertake approximately 4 - 5 visits across Scotland, per annum, for the purposes of quality reviewing EPASS events

You must:

• Be a GP, practising in Scotland

• Have a good understanding of quality assurance methodology

To find out more about these exciting new opportunities and details of remuneration, please contact Michelle Keenan, Projects & Initiatives Manager on 0131 260 6800 or email mkeenan@rcgp-scotland.org.uk

Closing date for applications: Friday, 15 July 2005

hoolet is the magazine of RCGP Scotland. It is supported intellectually, financially and emotionally by RCGP Scotland.

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.