What Counts as CPD for UK Healthcare Professionals?

CPD (Continuing Professional Development) covers a much wider range of learning activities than many professionals realise. It is not limited to formal courses or conferences — almost any structured learning that develops your professional knowledge, skills, or attitudes can count.

Recognised CPD activity types

The following activities are widely accepted across UK regulatory bodies:

• Conferences and symposia — national and international meetings in your specialty
• Formal education — postgraduate degrees, diplomas, certificates, and short courses
• E-learning — online modules, webinars, and virtual training programmes
• Teaching and supervision — undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, mentoring
• Clinical audit and quality improvement — data collection, analysis, and implementation cycles
• Research — conducting, participating in, or reviewing clinical studies
• Publications — writing journal articles, book chapters, or clinical guidelines
• Peer review — reviewing manuscripts, journal club presentations, case discussions
• Simulation and skills labs — procedural training, resuscitation updates, OSCE preparation
• Self-directed learning — reading journals, textbooks, and clinical guidelines
• Management and leadership training — NHS leadership programmes, business skills
• Safeguarding training — mandatory and refresher training required by most employers
• Appraisal and revalidation preparation — can itself count as structured CPD time

What regulators look for

Each UK regulatory body has its own CPD framework, but they share common principles. CPD should be relevant to your scope of practice, planned to address identified learning needs, and reflected upon to demonstrate its impact.

• GMC — Expects CPD to cover all domains of Good Medical Practice. Minimum 250 credits per 5-year cycle.
• NMC — Requires 35 hours of practice-related CPD per 3-year registration period, with at least 20 hours participatory.
• GDC — Annual CPD requirement (verifiable and non-verifiable), with mandatory topics including medical emergencies and infection control.
• GPhC — Requires a structured CPD record demonstrating systematic learning linked to practice.
• HCPC — Expects a wide range of learning activities relevant to safe and effective practice.
• GOC — Requires 36 points every 3 years for optometrists and dispensing opticians.

The three-category model

myCPD Tracker organises activities into three categories that map to most regulatory frameworks:

• Clinical — directly patient-facing learning (audit, simulation, clinical courses)
• Academic — research, writing, teaching, and supervision activities
• Professional — leadership, ethics, management, and governance

Does mandatory training count as CPD?

Yes — mandatory training such as fire safety, manual handling, resuscitation updates, and information governance training counts towards your CPD total. Keep records of completion dates and durations. Many professionals undercount their CPD precisely because they forget to log mandatory training.

What does not count as CPD?

Clinical work itself — seeing patients, performing procedures — does not count as CPD unless it involves a structured learning component (e.g. a supervised procedure log or a reflective case analysis). Similarly, administrative tasks and routine meetings without a learning objective are generally not accepted.