CPD for UK Doctors: What You Need for Appraisal and Revalidation

Every UK doctor with a licence to practise needs an annual appraisal and revalidation every five years — and CPD sits at the centre of both. This guide explains how much CPD is expected, what counts, and how to stop the whole thing becoming a scramble in the fortnight before your appraisal.

The framework, briefly

Three things are worth separating in your head, because they are often used interchangeably and are not the same:

• Appraisal — an annual conversation with a trained appraiser about your practice, your development and your wellbeing.
• Revalidation — the GMC's five-yearly confirmation that you remain fit to practise, based on those appraisals and a recommendation from your responsible officer.
• CPD — continuing professional development. The learning you do, and the evidence you bring to the appraisal.

CPD is not a separate hoop. It is one of the supporting information types you discuss at appraisal, alongside quality improvement activity, significant events, feedback from colleagues and patients, and complaints.

How much CPD is expected?

The GMC does not set a single national credit total. Instead it expects your CPD to be relevant to your scope of practice, and leaves the detail to the medical royal colleges and faculties.

In practice, most colleges converge on a similar figure — commonly around 50 CPD credits a year, with one credit usually representing one hour of learning. Over a five-year revalidation cycle that comes to roughly 250 credits.

Two caveats that matter:

• Your college's requirements are the ones that count. Totals, category splits and how credits are claimed vary between colleges and faculties. Check yours directly rather than relying on a general figure.
• Requirements change. Verify against current GMC and college guidance before planning a cycle around any number, including the one above.

What actually counts as CPD?

More than people assume. CPD is usually divided into two broad types:

External CPD

Learning outside your workplace — conferences, courses, e-learning modules, exam preparation, regional teaching days.

Internal CPD

Learning within your normal working environment — departmental teaching, grand rounds, journal clubs, M&M meetings, case discussions, mandatory training.

Several things that count routinely get missed:

• Teaching others. Preparing and delivering teaching is a recognised learning activity in most schemes.
• Reading. Structured personal reading with a documented reflection, not just having a journal open.
• Committee and governance work. Guideline development, audit, and quality improvement.
• Supervision. Training as an educational or clinical supervisor.
• Podcasts and online learning. Increasingly accepted where you can evidence reflection.

Reflection is what makes it count

This is the part appraisers push back on most often. A certificate of attendance shows you were in the room. It does not show you learned anything.

A useful reflection is short and answers three questions:

1. What did I learn that I did not already know?
2. What will I do differently as a result?
3. Did I do it — and what happened?

Three sentences written on the train home is worth more at appraisal than a page written from memory in April. It is also the only part that genuinely improves your practice rather than documenting it.

A realistic way to keep on top of it

Log it the same day

The single highest-value habit. Whatever system you use — your college's platform, an appraisal toolkit, or a plain document — record the activity and the reflection while you still remember what you thought. Reconstructing a year of CPD from a calendar and a folder of certificates is a genuinely miserable weekend.

Spread it across the year

Fifty credits is roughly one hour a week. That is achievable alongside a full rota. The same fifty credits crammed into six weeks is not, and it produces the kind of thin reflection appraisers notice.

Aim it at your development plan

CPD that maps to the objectives in your personal development plan is far easier to discuss at appraisal than a scattered collection of whatever courses happened to be available. If you have a PDP objective about ultrasound, book the ultrasound course.

Keep the certificates

One folder, cloud-stored, named consistently. You will need them, and hunting through an NHS inbox from two years ago is not a good use of an evening.

If you are a locum, LTFT or between posts

The requirement follows the licence, not the contract. If you hold a licence to practise you need appraisal and revalidation regardless of how you work.

Two points worth noting:

• Less-than-full-time doctors are generally expected to meet the same CPD requirements, not a pro-rata share — the standard relates to your scope of practice, not your hours. Check your college's position.
• Locum and independent doctors need to identify a designated body and responsible officer. If you do not have one through an employer, there are appraisal services and organisations that provide this.

Common mistakes

• Collecting certificates without reflection. The most common appraisal feedback there is.
• Only counting external courses. Most doctors do far more internal CPD than they log.
• Leaving it until the appraisal window. Predictable, avoidable, and it shows.
• Assuming a course is accredited. Check before booking if you need the credits to count for your college.
• Letting a mandatory certificate expire. Life support in particular — it is CPD and a job requirement at the same time.

Planning next year's CPD

The easiest way to make the year manageable is to book two or three substantial activities early, spaced across the calendar, and let internal CPD accumulate around them. You can filter courses by speciality, format, location and date on Medgateways to see what is running and when.