RCN primary care adviser Lynne Young said the college had met with the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) to discuss making practices provide CPD for their staff as part of their accreditation.

The RCGP is currently piloting a new system of practice accreditation to be introduced by 2011. The newly-formed Care Quality Commission (CQC) will use the accreditation to ensure the quality and safety of practices.

Lord Ara Darzi's review of the NHS called upon employers to pay for CPD, but nurses still have little power to make GPs listen, said Ms Young, at the RCN's practice nurse conference in Plymouth, Devon, last month.

Including CPD in practice accreditation was an easier route than trying to ‘seduce the BMA's GP committee' into providing it, she said. 

‘General practice is heading for greater regulation,' Ms Young told delegates. ‘The current reforms are a golden opportunity to have general practice underpinned by fabulous nurse training.'

Until recently, there has been little nurse involvement with practice accreditation, but the RCN was ‘much further down the road now', said Ms Young. 

‘The RCN has met with RCGP chairman Steve Field at last. I actually think it didn't occur to him to consult the RCN,' she said.

‘After a bit of agitation we are now very much involved,' she said.

The RCGP was unavailable for comment on whether CPD would be included in practice accreditation. 

tom.ireland@haymarket.com

• Read the full version of this story in this week's edition of Independent Nurse dated 20 July
• Should practices be required to offer CPD?
  

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