Professional and Generic Skills (PGS) – Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I have to miss a day of PGS?
We set up this programme to offer a full and comprehensive overview of all the added value learning you’ll need as you progress towards a substantive post in the NHS. For this reason we ask you to sign up for all six modules at the point of registration, and to make attendance an absolute priority.
However, we recognise that life can sometimes get in the way, and so if you are obliged to miss a day (due to sickness, or other extenuating reasons) then you must let our administrator know so that she can report back to HESW. HESW will follow up all absenteeism, usually with your clinical supervisor at work.
Whilst we’d like to guarantee a place on a replacement module at another venue, this isn’t possible unless we know that there is a space. The same is true about transferring into next year’s programme. So we’ll be as flexible as we can if you have to miss a day – but our priority will always be the students who have signed up for all six modules.
I applied to attend PGS at a particular venue and have been told that it’s full. Why can’t you guarantee that I can attend all modules at my preferred venue?
We set up this programme originally to be able to offer attendance for participants at the venue closest to their home and/or jobs. Mostly, we are able to do this but unfortunately some venues are more popular than others and the places fill up very quickly. So we’ll do our best, but sometimes we have to ask you to travel to a different venue for a module and we hope you’ll see the benefit of doing this over missing the day.
What happens if I can’t attend PGS at the venue for which I originally registered?
We recognise that roles and rotations change, and so if you contact our administrator as soon as you know you can’t attend a particular venue/day, she’ll do her very best to re-accommodate you where your new job is. However, the programme is very popular, and numbers are limited in every classroom because our tutors want to make this as interactive and productive a teaching day as possible, so we can’t guarantee that you will always get the venue you want.
Can you tell me more about the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points which are available to me on completion of PGS?
When the programme was set up with Health Education England South West (HESW), the Royal College of Physicians agreed to award 42 CPD points to each participant who attended all of the days comprising all of the modules. This means attendance at six modules, over seven days.
In effect, each day is worth six CPD points, and the RCP are content for us to award CPD points per day attended (although see above about ‘missing days’).
If I do miss a day – will I achieve all the CPD points for the programme? How can I catch up?
If you do have to miss a day due to extenuating reasons (and it proves impossible for you to attend another replacement day), then our Programme Lead will consider a detailed personal reflection from you based on the content of the day you’ve missed, in lieu of attendance. To prepare this, we recommend that you make contact with a fellow participant to gather their reflection on the day they attended, as well as studying and considering the materials on the open-access learning website (MOODLE). Following this, you may email the Programme Lead (judy.ravenscroft@plymouth.ac.uk) with up to 500 words which clearly show that you have understood the key learning outcomes, your reflections on the content, and how it will be of use to you at work.
Can you tell me more about the Accreditation of Prior Credited Learning which forms part of the longer-term PGS progression opportunities?
We are in the happy position of being able to offer two choices for academic progression for participants who have completed all six modules of PGS.
