CPD for appraisal and revalidation: what the GMC and your royal college require
Written by Dr Sudhir Tapase, GMC appraiser · Published 5 November 2026
Continuing professional development (CPD) is one of the six types of supporting information. The question doctors ask most is how much they need. The GMC gives one answer, and your royal college or faculty may give another. This guide sets out both.
- Carry out CPD every year, based on your day-to-day work and what you’ll need in future for the roles that are, or are likely to become, part of your scope of practice.
- Cover the whole of your practice, tailored to your needs.
- Include your learning needs and plans in your personal development plan (PDP) for the coming year.
- Reflect on what you learned and how it has helped maintain or improve the quality of your practice.
The GMC does not mandate a number of CPD points. It doesn’t require you to belong to a college or faculty CPD scheme, to do a set number of hours each year, or to acquire a particular number of credits. It is your responsibility to do enough appropriate CPD to remain up to date and fit to practise, whether you work full time or less than full time.
Think broadly
The GMC says learning and reflection opportunities arise naturally from day-to-day practice, and CPD should also be influenced by clinical governance, quality improvement, workplace-based assessments and other ways you get feedback. When choosing what to discuss at appraisal, focus on the activities you found most valuable and meaningful. The GMC also says to consider CPD that helps you keep pace with social, legal and technological change, have appropriate equality, diversity and inclusion knowledge and skills, and understand how your own background influences your interactions.
Recording and evaluating
The GMC’s longer CPD guidance (published in 2012) says keeping a record of your learning, even informal learning, is part of the learning process. The GMC won’t normally ask to see your CPD details, but you must record them fully and accurately, because Good medical practice requires honesty. It says it often won’t be possible to measure a CPD activity’s effect on patient outcomes directly, but you should try to identify how your CPD could improve care, and later reflect on whether it met your objectives. The GMC doesn’t endorse or accredit CPD activities or award points.
Career breaks
If you keep your licence during a break, you must keep up to date and take part in revalidation, and show you’ve done appropriate CPD. See giving up your GMC licence.
These are the colleges’ own current statements, checked in November 2026. Several still recommend the older 50-credit-a-year, 250-credit-per-cycle model, and several have dropped it. Always check your college’s current page.
| College or faculty | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Royal College of Psychiatrists | For its CPD certificate of good standing: at least 30 hours of clinical CPD, two documented reflections on learning, and membership of a peer group in which you’ve been an active participant during the cycle. These replaced an older total of 50 hours. A new submissions platform started on 27 January 2026. | RCPsych CPD update |
| Royal College of General Practitioners | The emphasis is the quality of your reflection and its impact on care, not the number of credits. Your appraiser may not summarise credits, and the College says it is impossible to put a number on the credits you need. | RCGP appraisal CPD |
| Royal College of Surgeons of England | Complete 50 hours of CPD each year and at least 250 hours in a revalidation cycle. No more than 20 hours should be from a single type of activity. | RCS England CPD |
| Royal College of Anaesthetists | One credit equals one hour of learning, and the College recommends a minimum of 50 hours of CPD a year. | RCoA revalidation |
| Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists | Recommends a target of 50 credits a year and 250 over a five-year cycle. Credits come from learning events, with a credit for each reflective log. | RCOG appraiser guidance |
| Royal College of Radiologists | The target is 250 credits over five years, with no waiver for career breaks and no carry-over of extra credits to the next cycle. The target applies regardless of sessions worked. | RCR CPD FAQs |
| Royal College of Pathologists | Recommends at least 250 credits (or hours) in any five-year period and a minimum of 50 credits per year. | RCPath guide to CPD |
| Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health | Recording credits is no longer required. For those who want a credit-based approach, the College recommends 250 credits every five years, at least 50% external, with no more than 100 personal CPD credits and no more than 100 for a single activity. | RCPCH CPD FAQs |
| Royal College of Emergency Medicine | The approach focuses on the quality and impact of your CPD, not the number of hours. One credit normally equals one hour, depending on your learning outcomes. It doesn’t award credits to external events. | RCEM CPD |
| Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine | Credits give a useful steer, but the focus should be on what has been learned and its effect on practice. CPD should cover all your work and your PDP objectives, with a balance of activity types, and include a reflection. | FICM revalidation |
| Physicians (via the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians) | For the 2023–24 diary year the recommendation is 50 hours of CPD, 25 of them external, although this is not mandatory. The page says the GMC doesn’t require a set number of credits. | Federation CPD diary |
| Faculty of Public Health | No longer requires 50 credits a year. Instead you submit 3 to 6 reflective notes a year, linked to your PDP, as your annual return. | FPH CPD FAQs |
| Faculty of Occupational Medicine | The FOM historically recommended 50 CPD points a year but says you no longer need a set number. You show your appraiser CPD relevant to your scope and PDP, and the appraiser decides if it is sufficient. | FOM CPD |
- For revalidation, the GMC and your appraiser matter most. The GMC sets no number. Your responsible officer or suitable person agrees what is appropriate.
- Your college’s figure is guidance, or a condition of its certificate. For example, the RCPsych requirement is for its CPD certificate of good standing, and the RCR target applies to its scheme.
- If your college still uses credits, they are a useful steer. One credit generally equals one hour of learning.
- Quality beats quantity. Several colleges say so directly. Be ready to explain what you learned and what changed. See writing reflections for appraisal, with a free template.
I haven’t covered the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and of Physicians of Edinburgh and Glasgow (apart from the Federation page for physicians), or the Faculties of Pharmaceutical Medicine and of Sport and Exercise Medicine. If your specialty isn’t listed, check your college’s CPD page or ask your appraiser.
- Gather your CPD for the year, formal and informal.
- Choose the activities you found most valuable.
- For each, write what you learned and what changed.
- Note learning needs for your PDP.
See our revalidation checklist and mandatory training and revalidation. Your CPD plans go in your personal development plan.
GMC, Guidance on supporting information for revalidation: Continuing professional development; CPD: guidance for all doctors; the college and faculty pages linked in the table.