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CPD Requirements for UK Healthcare Professionals

Continuing professional development is part of working safely in healthcare, but there is no single UK CPD requirement that applies to every profession. A Nurse, dentist, paramedic and doctor may all need to demonstrate ongoing learning, yet the number of hours, evidence required and way that CPD links to registration can be very different.

That distinction matters. Searching for a general answer to “how many CPD hours do healthcare professionals need?” can easily produce misleading advice because the correct answer depends on your regulator, professional title and scope of practice.

UK healthcare CPD requirements are therefore best understood profession by profession. Some regulators specify a minimum number of hours. Others deliberately focus on the quality, relevance and outcome of learning rather than a numerical target.

What are the CPD requirements for UK healthcare professionals?

There is no universal CPD hours requirement across UK healthcare. The main professional regulators take different approaches.

At a glance:

  • NMC registrants need 35 hours of CPD during each three-year revalidation period, including at least 20 hours of participatory learning.
  • HCPC registrants do not have a prescribed number of CPD hours or points but must undertake regular CPD, keep an up-to-date record and be able to demonstrate its benefit to practice and service users.
  • Doctors regulated by the GMC are expected to undertake CPD annually across their whole scope of practice, but the GMC does not prescribe a universal number of hours or CPD points for revalidation.
  • GDC registrants have minimum verifiable CPD requirements over a five-year cycle, with the total depending on their professional title.

These professional requirements are separate from any training an employer may require for a particular role, workplace or clinical service.

NMC CPD requirements for Nurses, midwives and nursing associates

Nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council must complete 35 hours of CPD during each three-year revalidation period.

At least 20 of those hours must involve participatory learning. Participatory CPD involves learning with one or more other professionals and can take place face to face or virtually.

Examples might include:

  • Workshops and training courses
  • Conferences
  • Group learning sessions
  • Relevant professional meetings arranged for learning
  • Interactive virtual training

The remaining CPD can include other appropriate learning activities relevant to the registrant’s scope of practice.

NMC registrants also need to maintain accurate CPD records. These should show the learning method, topic, dates, number of hours, participatory hours where applicable, how the activity relates to practice and evidence that it took place.

CPD is only one part of NMC revalidation. Other revalidation requirements include practice-related feedback, written reflective accounts and reflective discussion, so completing 35 hours alone does not complete the full revalidation process.

HCPC CPD requirements

The Health and Care Professions Council takes a different approach. It does not set a fixed number of CPD hours or points for its registrants.

This applies across the professions regulated by the HCPC, which include paramedics, physiotherapists, radiographers, operating department practitioners and several other health and care professions.

Instead, registrants must:

  • Carry out CPD regularly
  • Maintain a continuous, accurate and up-to-date record
  • Complete different types of learning activity
  • Consider how the learning improves their practice
  • Consider how it benefits service users
  • Provide a CPD profile if selected for audit

The emphasis is therefore on outcomes rather than accumulating hours.

This gives professionals considerable flexibility, but that does not make the requirement less important. CPD needs to remain relevant to the person’s current or future practice and show genuine continuing development.

The HCPC audits a random sample of registrants from each profession during its renewal process, so maintaining records as learning happens is much safer than attempting to reconstruct a portfolio later.

GMC CPD requirements for doctors

Doctors are expected to undertake continuing professional development every year and ensure that it covers their whole scope of practice.

The General Medical Council does not require doctors to collect a universal minimum number of CPD hours or points for revalidation. Instead, CPD should be tailored to the doctor’s work, responsibilities, development needs and the needs of patients and services.

Learning should form part of the doctor’s wider professional development and normally be discussed during annual appraisal. Doctors should consider:

  • What they have learned
  • How that learning relates to their current work
  • Whether it has changed or improved their practice
  • What further learning needs have been identified
  • What should be incorporated into their personal development plan

This means that simply reaching an arbitrary number of CPD hours does not necessarily demonstrate that a doctor has met the GMC’s expectations. Relevance, reflection and coverage of the person’s whole scope of practice are more important.

Some medical royal colleges and faculties may operate their own CPD schemes or recommend particular numbers of credits. Those requirements should not automatically be confused with a universal GMC hours requirement.

GDC CPD requirements for dental professionals

The General Dental Council’s Enhanced CPD scheme uses minimum amounts of verifiable CPD over a five-year cycle.

The current minimum requirements are:

  • Dentists – 100 hours
  • Dental hygienists – 75 hours
  • Dental therapists – 75 hours
  • Orthodontic therapists – 75 hours
  • Clinical dental technicians – 75 hours
  • Dental Nurses – 50 hours
  • Dental technicians – 50 hours

Dental professionals also need to maintain a personal development plan and make an annual CPD statement.

The GDC requires CPD to be spread through the cycle rather than left until the end. Registrants must complete at least 10 hours of CPD across every two consecutive CPD years.

It is important to distinguish between minimum CPD requirements and recommended subject areas. For example, the GDC currently recommends at least 10 hours of medical emergencies CPD during each five-year cycle, with at least two hours of medical emergencies activity each year.

That recommendation makes medical emergency learning particularly relevant for dental professionals. The activity should still be appropriate to the person’s field of practice and provide usable evidence for their CPD records. RCMS provides medical emergencies and life support training for dental teams designed around the situations and responsibilities encountered in dental practice.

What about healthcare roles without these professional CPD schemes?

Not everyone working in health and care is registered with the NMC, HCPC, GMC or GDC. Care workers, healthcare support workers, workplace first aiders and other staff may instead have training requirements arising from their employer, qualification, role, service, risk assessment or sector guidance.

That is an important distinction.

A care worker may need regular training and professional development without being subject to an NMC-style requirement for a fixed number of regulatory CPD hours. Likewise, a workplace first aider may have qualification renewal requirements, but those are not the same thing as professional revalidation.

Staff should therefore identify both:

  • The professional registration requirements that apply to them, if any
  • The training and competence requirements attached to their employer and role

One does not necessarily replace the other.

CPD and mandatory training are not the same thing

CPD and mandatory training can overlap, but they describe different things.

Continuing professional development is concerned with maintaining and developing professional knowledge, skills and practice. Mandatory training refers to learning that an employer or organisation requires staff to complete because of legislation, regulation, risk, local policy or the responsibilities of the role.

A mandatory course may also contribute towards professional CPD where it is relevant and satisfies the requirements set by the individual’s regulator.

For example, a practical life support course may be required by an employer and also represent relevant professional learning for a registered clinician. However, staff should not assume that every mandatory training certificate automatically satisfies their regulator’s CPD scheme.

The learning still needs to meet the relevant criteria.

What activities can count as healthcare CPD?

CPD is much broader than attending formal courses. What counts depends partly on the regulator involved, but relevant professional development may include:

  • Courses and workshops
  • Conferences and professional events
  • Simulation and practical skills training
  • Peer learning
  • Case discussions
  • Clinical supervision
  • Quality improvement work
  • Relevant reading and self-directed study
  • E-learning
  • Teaching or mentoring where genuine learning occurs
  • Reflective learning following incidents or feedback

The important question is not simply whether an activity looks like CPD. It is whether it meets the requirements of the relevant professional scheme and contributes meaningfully to the individual’s development.

Does healthcare CPD need to be accredited?

Not necessarily.

Professional regulators generally set their own requirements around what learning must demonstrate. A course displaying a CPD accreditation mark does not automatically mean it satisfies every regulatory, professional or employer requirement.

For example, the HCPC specifically focuses on the learning and outcomes rather than approving or endorsing individual CPD activities. The GMC similarly expects doctors to select learning that reflects their scope of practice and development needs.

Dental professionals have a specific requirement for verifiable CPD. That means the activity must meet the GDC’s criteria for verification and evidence; it should not simply be assumed that the words “CPD accredited” are sufficient on their own.

Accreditation can still provide useful structure and evidence when choosing professional training.

Does online training count as CPD?

Online learning can count towards CPD where it meets the requirements of the relevant regulator and is appropriate to the learning need.

The format should make sense for what is being learned. An online session may be entirely appropriate for understanding a new guideline, revisiting professional standards or developing theoretical knowledge.

Practical clinical skills are different. If the objective is to perform CPR effectively, use clinical equipment or demonstrate another hands-on competency, an online course alone may not provide the practical assessment or feedback required by an employer or professional role.

It is therefore useful to separate two questions:

  • Can this activity contribute to my CPD?
  • Does it also demonstrate the practical competence required for my role?

The answer to the first can be yes while the answer to the second is no.

What evidence of CPD should healthcare professionals keep?

Good CPD records should make it easy to understand what was learned and why the activity was relevant.

Depending on the regulator, useful evidence can include:

  • Course certificates
  • Attendance records
  • Dates and duration of learning
  • Learning outcomes
  • Reflective notes
  • Workshop or conference programmes
  • Evidence of participatory learning where required
  • Assessment or feedback records
  • Notes showing how learning influenced practice

Do not rely on certificates alone where the professional scheme asks for more. A certificate may prove attendance, but it may not show why the learning was chosen, how it applied to your work or what changed as a result.

Recording CPD soon after it takes place is usually much easier than trying to remember those details when appraisal, revalidation or renewal approaches.

How should healthcare professionals plan their CPD?

A useful CPD plan should begin with the responsibilities the professional actually holds.

Consider:

  • Which areas of practice need updating
  • Whether your role or scope of practice has changed
  • Skills you use infrequently and may need to rehearse
  • New clinical guidance or technology
  • Feedback from colleagues, patients or service users
  • Learning identified through appraisal or supervision
  • Incidents, audits or quality improvement work
  • Professional regulator requirements
  • Employer training requirements

This produces a more meaningful development plan than choosing courses simply because they offer convenient CPD hours.

For professionals involved in emergency care, deterioration recognition, life support or clinical procedures, practical learning may form an important part of that plan. The appropriate level should reflect the person’s role rather than assuming that more advanced training is always better.

What happens if CPD requirements are not met?

The consequences depend on the regulator and the circumstances.

Where CPD forms part of maintaining professional registration, failing to meet the required standards can create problems during renewal, revalidation or an audit and may ultimately affect registration.

This is another reason not to leave CPD until the end of a cycle. Registrants with fixed-hour requirements should know their current total and any rules about how learning must be spread across the period. Professionals working under outcome-based schemes should keep their records current enough to demonstrate continuing learning if requested.

If you believe you may not meet a regulatory requirement, check the current guidance from your regulator rather than relying on advice from a colleague or an old training record. Some regulators have specific processes or provisions for particular circumstances, but these differ between professions.

Check the regulator rather than relying on one CPD number

The biggest mistake when interpreting UK healthcare CPD requirements is assuming that healthcare professionals all work to the same system.

They do not.

The NMC specifies hours and participatory learning. The HCPC focuses on continuous development and outcomes without prescribing hours. The GMC expects annual CPD tailored to the doctor’s scope of practice. The GDC uses defined verifiable CPD totals across a five-year cycle, with different requirements for different dental professional titles.

Those differences are deliberate. Professional development needs to reflect the responsibilities and standards of each profession.

For the individual healthcare professional, the safest approach is to know which regulator sets your requirements, keep your learning record current and choose CPD that genuinely supports the work you perform. For employers, professional CPD should then sit alongside the separate training, competency and governance requirements needed to keep the service safe.

At RCMS Life Support, training is designed around that practical connection between professional development and real clinical responsibility. The strongest CPD is not simply activity that adds hours to a record. It is learning that remains relevant when the knowledge or skill is actually needed.

FAQs About CPD Requirements for UK Healthcare Professionals

Does working part time reduce a healthcare professional’s CPD requirements?

Not automatically. Professional CPD requirements are generally linked to maintaining registration and practising within an appropriate scope rather than simply to the number of hours worked each week. A professional working part time should check the requirements of their own regulator and make sure their CPD remains relevant to the responsibilities they continue to hold.

What happens to CPD requirements during maternity leave or a career break?

This depends on the regulator and whether the professional remains registered or licensed during the break. Some regulators allow particular processes for career breaks, audit deferrals or periods away from practice, while others continue to expect CPD requirements to be maintained if registration is retained. Professionals planning an extended absence should check their regulator’s current rules early rather than waiting until renewal or revalidation is due.

Can CPD completed outside the UK count towards UK professional requirements?

It may count if the activity meets the requirements of the relevant UK regulator. The location of the training is not necessarily the deciding factor. Professionals should consider whether the learning is relevant to their scope of practice, whether suitable evidence is available and whether any regulator-specific requirements for participation, verification or reflection have been met.

What if a healthcare professional holds more than one professional registration?

They need to meet the requirements attached to each registration they wish to maintain. Some learning may be relevant to more than one professional role, but it should not automatically be assumed that the same activity satisfies both schemes. The professional should check the criteria set by each regulator and retain the evidence required for each registration.

Should CPD change when a healthcare professional’s scope of practice changes?

Yes. CPD should remain relevant to the work a professional currently performs and the responsibilities they are likely to take on. Moving into a new clinical area, taking on leadership responsibilities, using unfamiliar equipment or beginning a new procedure may create different learning needs. Reviewing CPD when a role changes helps ensure professional development keeps pace with the person’s actual scope of practice.