CET Rules Consultation by GOC

CET Rules Overview

This consultation seeks stakeholder views on changes we intend to make to our Continuing Education and Training (CET) Rules 2005 (amended in 2012). We are amending our CET Rules in order to underpin the changes that we will introduce at the start of the new three year Continuing Professional Development cycle in January 2022.

This consultation gives stakeholders an opportunity to review our draft amended CET Rules and to provide feedback before we progress with legislative change.

Why we are consulting

We have consulted extensively with stakeholders over changes we intend to make to our current CET scheme. Our aim is to make the scheme more flexible and less prescriptive, allowing registrants greater freedom to undertake learning and development which is relevant to their own personal scope of practice.

We ran a public consultation in 2018 and more recently another consultation from 28 May to 20 August 2020. On 14 November 2020 we sought approval from the GOC’s governing Council to progress with the following changes:

Replacing the competencies which currently underpin the scheme, to the Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians.

Allowing registrants more control over their learning and development and the ability to tailor it to their own personal scope of practice.

Enhancing requirements for registrants to reflect on their practice.

Changing the name of the scheme from CET to Continuing Professional Development (CPD). In line with this, from here on in this consultation, we will refer to any future scheme and activities within it as ‘CPD’, and the current CET arrangements as ‘the current scheme’.

Introducing a new proportionate system of CPD approvals.

Consult on a new requirement in our Rules to introduce peer review for dispensing opticians. This would be the same requirement that we currently have for optometrists and contact lens opticians, who are required to do one peer review activity in every three year cycle.

Remove reference in the Rules specifying a set fee of £45 payable by CET providers annuallly to the GOC, instead allowing Council to set the fee at their discretion.

This consultation gives stakeholders an opportunity to review the amended CET Rules to ensure that they do not have any unintended consequences or impact and we welcome any feedback. Once this consultation has ended, we will analyse all the responses before finalising the draft amendments. We will present the amended CET Rules, along with the consultation outcome, to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). In order to amend our Rules we will need legislative change including approval from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Privy Council.

Amendments to CET Rules for consultation 201211.pdf