The following terms are applicable to Continuing Professional Development in general and the document that follows:

“Act”

means the Allied Health Professions Act, Act 63 of 1982, as amended, and any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall bear such meaning, unless inconsistent with the context;

“AHPCSA”

means the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa as constituted by the Allied Health Professions Act, Act 63 of 1982, as amended;

“approval”

means AHPCSA recognition and accreditation of continuing education and training courses or activities offered by CPD service providers that have met the criteria laid down by the AHPCSA for offering such continuing education and training courses or activities and the word “approved” has a corresponding meaning;

“attendance register”

is the record of attendees of any form of CPD activity in Levels 1, 2 and 3, reflecting the names and AHPCSA registration number of those present and their signatures on completion of the activity;

“bioethics and jurisprudence”

which includes ethics, human rights, patient’s rights and medical law is an understanding of the bioethical principles that determine how practitioners interact with patients and society;

“CPD Committee”

means the Professional Board for Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and Unani-Tibb (PBACMU); the Professional Board for Therapeutic Aromatherapy, Therapeutic Reflexology and Therapeutic Massage Therapy (PBARM); the Professional Board for Chiropractic and Osteopathy (PBCO); and the Professional Board for Homeopathy, Naturopathy and Phytotherapy (PBHNP) whichever Professional Board is responsible for approving CPD courses or activities for each AHPCSA-regulated profession, respectively. It will be the applicable CPD committee which will be responsible to make the necessary recommendations in respect of the imposition of appropriate sanctions for any non-compliant practitioner;

“compliance check”

is the monitoring of individual practitioners which shall take place at least once a cycle by means of a randomly selected sample of practitioners from the Registers: Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Osteopathy, Phytotherapy, Therapeutic Aromatherapy, Therapeutic Massage Therapy, Therapeutic Reflexology and Unani-Tibb;

“continuing education units”

(CEUs) are the values attached to a learning activity for CPD;

“continuing professional development”

means the continuing education and training referred to in section 4(1)(g) of the Act and prescribed in terms of Board Notice 188 of 2012 and these Guidelines, and any such subsequent Board Notice published in the Government Gazette and the acronym “CPD” has a corresponding meaning. This includes conditions relating to continuing education and training; the nature and extent of continuing education and training and the criteria for recognition;

“deferment”

means formal permission sought by the practitioner and granted by any CPD Committee to suspend/postpone CPD requirements for a period of time and to consider conditions for re-entry into practice;

“individual CPD activity record”

means the AHPCSA Individual CPD Activity Record that shall be held by the individual practitioner as a record of every learning activity attended or completed. It shall be accompanied by Attendance Certificates for each event or series of events and the record shall be regularly updated and current;

“jurisprudence”

means the study and knowledge of the AHP Act, Act 63 of 1982, Regulations 2001 pertaining to the Act, Rules and the application of the principles of law to health and medicine;

“learning activity/ies”

means activities approved by the AHPCSA for CPD, comprising three levels, namely those encompassing non-measurable outcomes [Level 1], those with measurable outcomes [Level 2] and those associated with formally structured learning programmes [Level 3], all of which are eligible for approval for CPD and from which CEUs are obtained;

“Inquiring Body”

means the council, the professional board, a committee of the council or a committee appointed by a professional board, which is conducting an inquiry contemplated in either section 23(1) or 23(1A) or section 29 of the Act and/or the Continuing Professional Development (“CPD”) Guidelines for the professions of Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Osteopathy, Phytotherapy, Therapeutic Aromatherapy, Therapeutic Massage Therapy, Therapeutic Reflexology and Unani-Tibb;

“non-compliance”

means the failure of an individual to obtain the required CEUs per cycle;

“practitioner”

means any person registered with the AHPCSA in terms of Section 2(a) of the Act and any reference to practitioner also includes any person registered as a therapist;

“recognition of other CPD programme activities”

refers to the process of approval by the AHPCSA of other statutory health profession councils’ programmes for CPD;

“registrar”

means the registrar of practitioners and students appointed under section 11(1) of the Act;

“restoration after deregistration”

means restoration to the register and takes place according to conditions that vary, depending upon the duration of the deregistration;

“service provider”

means any person, institution, body, facility or organisation that meets the specified criteria and has been approved as a service provider in accordance with the provisions of section 16A of the Act by the AHPCSA to provide and to present approved learning activities for CPD;

“therapist”

means any person registered with the AHPCSA in terms of Section 2(b) of the Act and for the purposes of these Guidelines is included in the term practitioner; and

“validity of CEUs”

means the duration of validity of CEUs.

[Definitions substituted by Board Notice 170, GG45536, dated 26 November 2021]