Personal development plan (PDP) for appraisal
Written by Dr Sudhir Tapase, GMC appraiser · Published 5 November 2026
Your personal development plan, or PDP, connects one appraisal to the next. This guide sets out what the GMC says about it.
The GMC’s guidance says your appraisal portfolio must include your personal development plans and their reviews. It describes your appraisal and job planning discussions, together with your agreed PDP, as the tools that help you identify and address your own learning needs and those of others, and divide your CPD across the scope of your work. They also help employers identify, coordinate and resource learning and development.
- Your CPD needs and plans. The GMC says your learning needs and plans for your CPD should be included in your PDP for the coming year.
- Needs across all your work. The GMC’s CPD guidance says to consider your needs across the whole of your professional practice: clinical and non-clinical, and any management, research, teaching or training responsibilities.
- Change. It says your CPD should also help you deal with change and potential change, such as changes to your roles, to medical knowledge and practice, and to your teams and services.
- Gaps you couldn’t close. If you haven’t been able to evaluate the result of changes you made, or plan to make, to your practice through quality improvement activity, the GMC says to discuss with your appraiser how to include this in your PDP.
- Missing supporting information. If something was outstanding at appraisal, the GMC says you agree with your appraiser your plans for collecting it.
The GMC’s CPD guidance says you should be prepared to review your PDP throughout the year, in light of discussions with your appraiser and others, so it stays relevant. It says planning and evaluating your CPD should be managed on an ongoing basis, not just at your appraisal. At each appraisal, review the actions from your last PDP and record the outcome.
The GMC says reflection must be integral to your PDP and your appraisal and job planning discussions, and that you should reflect on what you learned from your CPD and record its impact, or expected impact, on your practice. See writing reflections for appraisal and CPD for appraisal.
The GMC says you must think about how your learning will support your patients, your teams, your organisations and the wider community. It says to ask for and be receptive to advice from others, including feedback from patients, carers and colleagues. See patient and colleague feedback.
The GMC sets no required format for a PDP. Many doctors find it helpful to write each objective using SMART, a common goal-setting tool. It is not a GMC requirement. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound:
| Stands for | Ask yourself | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Specific | What exactly will I do, and which part of my work does it relate to? | Improve how I run team debriefs, rather than “get better at teamwork”. |
| M | Measurable | How will I know I have done it? What will I count, observe or collect? | Lead three debriefs and collect brief feedback from the team after each. |
| A | Achievable | Can I do this with the time, support and resources I have? | Three debriefs in six months fits my rota and my team has agreed to try it. |
| R | Relevant | Does it matter for my patients, my team and my scope of practice? | Debriefs are part of my role and support learning from events and complaints. |
| T | Time-bound | By when will I do it, and when will I review progress? | Complete by 31 March; review with my appraiser at my next appraisal. |
Worked example (an illustration, not a recommendation): By 31 March I will lead at least three structured team debriefs and gather brief feedback from team members after each, then write a short reflection on what I changed. I will review progress at my mid-year check and at my next appraisal.
How to achieve a SMART objective: write it as one sentence that answers all five questions; split large aims into steps; agree it with your appraiser; schedule the activity; keep notes as you go; and review it during the year, not only at appraisal.
Our two-page template has a section to review last year’s actions, a section for new SMART objectives, and a page explaining SMART. Download it as a fillable PDF or an editable Word document. Free to use for your own appraisal.
- Bring your last PDP and note which actions you completed, partly completed or dropped, and why.
- List the learning needs that came from this year’s feedback, events, complaints, quality improvement and CPD.
- Draft your new PDP actions, covering all your work.
- Note anything you couldn’t complete or evaluate, to carry forward.
See our revalidation checklist and how online appraisals work.
GMC, Guidance on supporting information for revalidation (including its CPD and quality improvement activity sections); CPD: guidance for all doctors.