Locum, Sessional and Doctors not in Clinical Practice
The professional competence system is designed to be flexible so that doctors in all types of practice can easily meet their legal requirements. Doctors who are not practising full time or who are not in clinical practice can sometimes experience challenges in meeting the professional competence requirements, and will be supported by their postgraduate medical training body to do so.
Non-Clinical Doctors
Doctors working in a non- clinical setting include:
- Expert witnesses
- Clinical service policy development and oversight roles
- Clinical leadership and management roles
- Medical Coroners
- Medical Managers
- Medico-legal roles
- Academic roles
Advice and support is also available from your postgraduate training body and in particular advice relating to individual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities.
Locum and sessional doctors
Even if you’re involved in only a small amount of clinical practice, you can maintain professional competence by participating in appropriate CPD activities. Doctors working as locums are required to fulfill the minimum requirements of 50 CPD hours during a scheme year. Doctors should record these 50 CPD hours across the following categories:
· Planning CPD (maximum of 5 CPD hours)
· Practice Review (minimum of 10 CPD hours)
· Work-based Learning (minimum of 15 CPD hours)
· Accredited CPD Activity (minimum of 20 CPD hours)
Doctors have a responsibility to keep knowledge and skills up to date as from the perspective of the public, regardless of how frequently the doctor practices medicine, they expect a doctor to keep their knowledge and skills up to date.
Advice and support is also available from your postgraduate training body and in particular advice relating to individual CPD activities.
Locum doctors working abroad
There are a small number of locum doctors who practise in Ireland from time to time, but who live and work abroad. The amount of time a doctor practises in Ireland will direct how professional competence requirements are met. If you are a doctor working overseas but you undertake locum work in Ireland for 30 days or more per year, then you must be enrolled in a professional competence scheme with a recognised postgraduate training body in Ireland. If you undertake occasional locum work in Ireland less than 30 days, then you can potentially meet the requirement by participating in CPD activities in your country of practice.
When applying annually to retain registration with the Medical Council, you will be asked to declare if you are maintaining professional competence and if you have been practising in Ireland or overseas. The Medical Council carries out a professional competence audit on a number of doctors each year. If a doctor is selected for audit, the Medical Council may seek supporting evidence to demonstrate you are not practising medicine in the State and that you are engaged in maintenance of professional competence through a local structured maintenance of professional competence programme.
Temporary/ occasional work
There are some exceptional circumstances under which a doctor who is an EU citizen and fully established to practise medicine in another EU member state, may be entitled to practise medicine in the Republic of Ireland on a temporary or occasional basis without having to take out general or specialist registration.
Additional information