Professional Portfolios
Introduction and Context
The Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) maintains a register and regulates sixteen allied
health and care professions (AHP’s) to protect the public. Since 2005 HCPC standards require
that registrants must engage with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to maintain
their registration and established a system of self-regulation (HCPC, 2014). CPD has been
defined as ‘a range of learning activities through which health professionals maintain and
develop throughout their career to ensure that they retain their capacity to practise safely,
effectively and legally within their evolving scope of practice’ (HCPC, 2014).
The system requires all AHP’s maintain profiles (portfolios), which evidences their CPD
activity, these are assessed by the HCPC according to set standards (www.hcpc-uk.org). It is
essential that the portfolio reflects the standards of proficiency expected of a health
professional and demonstrates knowledge, understanding and skills required for evolving
scope of practice. These portfolios support professional autonomy and the unique roles
HCPC registered physiotherapists have. The portfolio is not based on achieving formal
competencies as it is equally possible to undertake no CPD and meet standards for
knowledge and skills or possible to undertake CPD but not be fit to practise.
There are intrinsic rewards to AHP’s who engage in documenting CPD in developing
personal; professional; patient and organisational improvements (Johnson, 2008. Haywood
et al, 2012, Kennedy, 2014).
Building your CPD portfolio for submission- Do’s and Don’ts
Re-registration is every two years with the next being in April 2016, 2.5% of Physiotherapists
will be selected but you should expect to submit your portfolio to the HCPC. You will be
given time to collate it and you will remain registered until you meet the standards and gain
your re-registration. There will be accessory information that you will need to submit
combined with your evidence.
This will include a summary of your practice history and a statement of how you have met
the CPD standards. This this will enable the assessor to review if your evidence is related to
your current and evolving practice. It is advisable that the portfolio is planned and time is
given to assemble it, even though you are only evidencing your CPD from the past two years.
Importantly think about its actual presentation. It isn’t helpful to submit a box file of
unnumbered sheets of paper that have no headings or logical sequencing, remember your
assessors know nothing about you and a clear concise portfolio that has a contents page,
numbered pages and headed sections does much to facilitate the assessment. Think broadly
of evidence that you have available, it is the quality of the evidence not the quantity that will
show your achievement of the standards. Lastly carefully consider confidentiality and
plagiarism. Ensure that you are not sharing information that breaches confidentiality and
ensure the CPD you present is your own and not the work of others.
There are two lists that you need to include in your portfolio. The first is the list of evidence
you are providing and identifies which CPD standard these apply too.
The second is your first piece of evidence which lists which dates and identifies your CPD
activities, you may construct your list in any way that suits your needs. This list should have
no longer than three months between CPD activities therefore if you have been away on
maternity leave or with an extended break it may be beneficial to discuss with the HCPC a
deferral and submission in the next re-registration. If you maintain this list you will surprise
yourself with the amount of CPD activity that you have participated in and forgotten about!
It is important that you ensure the evidence that you supply includes a mixture of learning
activities including self-directed, work-based; formal and professional activities. Your
evidence can consist of several documents that group together to form a concise document
demonstrating learning. For example you may undertake a course to take undergraduate
physiotherapy students and include the course attendance certificate; you may write a
reflection on what you have learnt and an action plan; this may be accompanied by a
prepared student induction pack including timetable, list of learning objectives and a
reading list; you may include a power point of teaching slides you have used; you could use
the students anonymised final assessment and placement feedback; followed by a
reflection, discussion with the University tutor and plan on how you would develop the
placement related to your learning. This evidence encompasses HCPC standards 2, 3 and 4
and includes feedback on your practise. Other evidence could be your appraisal
documentation which objectively identifies and plan your CPD activity and reviews your
practice; a report that collated the feedback from service users such as Patient Recorded
Outcome Measures (PROMS); the development of a patient information leaflet or
establishing protocols for an aspect of the service. Approximately five pieces of detailed
evidence presented in this format is required.
What do I need to include in my portfolio?
The HCPC provides excellent resources on its website (www.hcpc-org.uk) and handbooks to
facilitate the compilation of a portfolio. The best place to start is familiarising yourself with
the HCPC standards and audit process. The handbooks “How to complete your continuing
professional development profile” and “Continuing professional development and your
registration “can be viewed online. The HCPC provide many helpful online resources
including short video presentations ‘Putting your CPD profile together”; sample profiles; CPD
activity examples and evidence examples. These resources are often highlighted on twitter
@HCPC.
In
addition to the HCPC, The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is supportive in
providing CPD training and resources. Since 2011 the CSP have worked on a project to
promote, develop and evaluate the society's CPD resources. Recent innovations include the
guidance “Steps 1,2,3 to CPD” on the CSP website and establishing a network of “Learning
Champions” who have key roles in facilitating peers to learn and develop through a range of
activities. They are involved in raising awareness of learning opportunities and resources;
encouraging critical review of CPD practices and to collaborate with the organisation and
peers to change learning environments, policies and procedures. The establishment of the
collaborative support has been shown to enhance practice development (Kennedy, 2014)
therefore it is important to access learning resources such as special interest groups; CPD
forums; clinical supervision; mentors and online forums such as iCSP. Lone workers who lack
a large organisational structure and peers will need to develop their support networks.
The HCPC standards state it is important to experience all types of learning experiences to
include self-directed; work based; formal and professional activity and include them in your
submission (HCPC, 2014). There is often greater perceived value in attending formal learning
opportunities but this is often hindered by lack of local funding. It is not the attendance with
formal learning activities but the engagement in learning that is important. I suggest that
during lectures make notes of what you think is relevant to your practice. Reflect and use
these notes to research the topic; review interventions, skills and experience; read the
research presented; devise an action plan and then implement your plan and review the
impact it has made.
Austin reviewed and discussed competency for the HCPC (HCPC, 2015) and identified that
engagement with learning and access to relevant varied learning experiences are essential.
Engagement is characterised by being purposeful; productive and achieving personal
satisfaction balancing challenge with skills in the work environment (HCPC, 2015). Local CPD
policies and requirements now place greater emphasis on engagement behaviours such as
work based learning and reflection. The benefits of engagement are that it is self-assessed
and therefore it supports professional autonomy. In practice we develop individualised skills
and knowledge related to the professionals we meet; the reading we conduct and the
individuals we encounter. It is important to maximise these opportunities for learning and
review how we have changed practice related to this.
Nickson (2014) discussed the portfolio will not be full of “eureka” transformational moments
but if maintained regularly will identify your accumulative learning. Take ownership of your
portfolio and the documental evidence it produces and use this as an opportunity to reflect,
learn and develop over a period of months or years. Do not wait until it is requested by the
HCPC to prove what you have been involved in. As your role is unique you are able to select
the evidence you submit in a portfolio. Your appraisal will be a good place to start when
looking at what evidence you will develop as it is an opportunity to negotiate development
time with specific aims and outcomes and based on your need.
Acknowledging the impact of the learning is often the most ignored aspect of CPD (Nicolson,
2014). Does it benefit the service user? This will require using tools such as Patient
Recorded Experience Measures (PREMS); Patient recorded outcome measures (PROMS);
student feedback; have you developed an assessment tool; gained 3600 feedback from
colleagues; or asked your staff to develop a protocol?
How do I document my CPD?
Physiotherapists have to take professional responsibility to make time, document and retain
the evidence of their CPD activities. It is not necessary for individuals to record in detail all
learning experiences, but ensure there is sufficient to contribute to their portfolio. It is
important to be aware although it is a professional document, it is not an academic
document and does not require specific skills associated with this, as many practicing
members have not trained to degree standard, it’s your document write it clearly and
concisely in your own way. It’s as acceptable to hand in hand written notes where relevant,
as it is to use online forms.
When developing your portfolio it is advisable to document and keep notes from meetings;
IPR’s; discussions; emails; conversations and clinical supervision. It may be useful to carry a
notebook which is dated and records relevant activities and tasks that then can be easily
transferred to your continuous dated list. Investigate ways of collating this information,
online, hard copy or a proforma and select tools that suit your needs best (Nickson, 2014).
The CSP has developed the “CSP Physiotherapy Framework” to provide an eportfolio on
pebblepad3 and The HCPC has released the app myHCPC/ hcpplus if formal documentation
meets your need. It’s your choice what you include in the final portfolio and how you
present it.
Conclusion
In conclusion CPD is YOUR professional responsibility. It requires engagement on a regular
basis with a range of learning activities and it is facilitated by collaborative activities and
support networks. Use learning activities that demonstrate the quality of your practice and
service delivery and ensure you evaluate how it benefits the service user. It is necessary to
maintain a continuous and accurate record of your CPD activities for two year periods in a
way that suits your needs. Ensure you access relevant HCPC and CSP resources to inform you
of the standards expected of a professional and the requirements of re-registration. Ensure
that you document your personal activity and its impact; do not use the work of others and
ensure you consider aspects of confidentiality.
References
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Health Professions Council (2012a). Standards of conduct, performance and ethics:
your duties as a registrant. London. www.hpc-uk.org/publications/
Health Professions Council (2012b). Your guide to our standards of continuing
professional development. London
Health Care Professions Council (2013). Standards of proficiency: physiotherapists.
London. www.hpc-uk.org/publications/standards/index.asp?id=49
Health Care Professions Council (2014). Continuing professional development and
your registration: information for registrants. London
Health Care Professions Council (2015) Preventing small problems from becoming
big problems in health and care.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (2003) Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) Briefing and Policy Statement. CPD Paper 29. London.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (2005). Core standards of physiotherapy
practice. London.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (2011). Code of members’ professional
values and behaviour. London. www.csp.org.uk/professionalunion/professionalism/csp-expectations-members/ code-professional-valuesbehaviour
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (2012). Quality assurance standards.
London.
April 7, 2014. Alison Nickson. Reflection on # Physiotalk: professional development
portfolios
Gunn H. Goding L (2009) Continuing Professional Development of physiotherapists
based in community primary care trusts: a qualitative study investigating
perceptions, experiences and outcomes. Physiotherapy 95, 3, 209–214
Hayward H, Pain H, Ryan Sarah, Adams J. (2012) Development of a Service Model.
Journal of Allied Health, 41, 2, 83-89(7)
Johnson H (2008) Continuing professional development for physiotherapists:
Exploring their choices in career long learning. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.
Kennedy A. (2005) Models of Continuing Professional Development (CPD): A
framework for analysis. Journal of In-service Education, 31, 2.