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CPD Report

Continuing Professional Development Standing Committee Report - June 2009
The CPD programme offered by SASLHA is functioning well due to a great deal of efficient help from Claudine in the office and the dedicated work of the online CPD programme editorial team.

Role of CPD committee
Committee members have discussed and debated the role of the committee and its members in preparation for the strategic planning National council meeting. The conclusion was that the CPD committee see their role as managers of the online CPD programme and of the accreditation of activities for CEUs process. The role does not extend to the organising of CPD workshops or activities at this stage. When requests for the organising of CPD activities are received, as we have recently had from an international speaker, they will be offered to the branches to be used as fund raising and branch activities.

Accreditation of activities
SASLHA is both an accredited service provider and an accrediting agency for the HPCSA. As the service provider the Association is permitted to offer accredited activities and the online CPD programme therefore is a legal process. A process of motivating to the HPCSA as to the validity of the CEUs offered by the Association and the record keeping of all activities is carefully maintained.

As an accreditor of activities, the Association pays an annual fee to the HPCSA and has a database of volunteer peer reviewers to review applications for CEU points for an activity. The fee that can be charged for this process is set down by HPCSA. There have been less than one application per month this year and is therefore not a cost effective process. SASLHA will send a representative to the Accreditor's Froum in August and based on findings from that meeting and a re-assessment of the year's applications make recommendations to National council about the future of the SASLHA's accreditor role before the renewal fee is due in 2010.

Internet CPD programme
All aspects of this programme are functioning well. The three-year subscription contract to the two journals ends in March 2010. The committee members will investigate other potential journal subscriptions to inform the process of renewal later this year.

Jenny Perold fulfils the role of coordinating the final editing of the questions for the two audio and two speech articles per month and of ensuring that they are submitted to the website manager. Jenny is assisted by Michelle Pascoe for the speech section and Christine Rogers for the Ethics section. They in turn are assisted by the team of contributing editors who choose articles and draw up the questions to be used. All these dedicated people ensure that the process runs well. The committee will investigate the use of the online CPD programme by the SASLHA members to evaluate how the programme adds value for members and how improvements can be made.

Anita Edwards
CPD Standing Committee Chairperson