CPPE has simplified the Declaration of Competence following user feedback.

The Declaration of Competence (DoC) system gained national approval in 2015. The DoC is hosted by CPPE and supports pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to reflect on their competence to provide pharmacy services, and identify and address their personal learning needs before signing their declaration statement.

Uptake of the DoC system increased greatly in 2015 when NHS England approved it for self-declaration to provide the new NHS seasonal influenza vaccination advanced service. Now pharmacy professionals are using the system to enable them to be ‘service ready’ and engage proactively with 14 different services including emergency contraception and supervised consumption of prescribed medicines.

Feedback

Increased familiarity with the DoC system generated feedback which suggested that some found it more complex than necessary. Two years down the line, people are now more familiar with the concept of the DoC system, so the Community Pharmacy Competence Group (CPCG) considered this the ideal time to simplify the documentation and put more emphasis on the key DoC principles of reflection and assuring competence. This has led to the relaunch of DoC in a new simplified framework.

What’s different?

The group has developed ‘A guide to using the Declaration of Competence (DoC) system’. If pharmacy professionals are new to the DoC system, this is an ideal resource to take them through a step-wise approach to DoC and can act as a useful refresher for those who do not use it regularly.

The new DoCs have a different structure and are much more concise. They jump straight into the self-assessment framework. Once pharmacy professionals have reflected on and considered the competencies required for the service, and identified any gaps, they can move on to the recommended learning and assessment to find out how they can fill those gaps.

The CPCG has introduced a new section, which sign-posts pharmacy professionals to tools to support their professional development. The declaration at the end of the statement is the same.

To find out more about how the Declaration of Competence can support you in your continuing professional development, visit the CPPE website.

The new DoCs have a different structure and are much more concise