Your CPD portfolio

The College’s CPD portfolio provides access to an easy-to-use system for storing and cataloguing your CPD activities, to improve and enhance your practice. Your online portfolio offers you a personalised, safe, electronic means to record your CPD progress, store supporting information and make an electronic return to the College.

The CPD portfolio allows you to record a rolling cycle of activities across a 5-year period. This reflects the General Medical Council's recommendation that practitioners undertake a minimum of 250 CPD credits (or hours) of activity in any 5-year period.

Further information on our services is given below.

Recording CPD activities

CPD activities are recorded as credits, with 1 hour of activity usually corresponding to 1 CPD credit. The CPD year runs from 1 April to 31 March the following year. Ideally, activities should be recorded as and when they are completed. They must be accompanied by relevant supporting information or a hyperlink to a website where the evidence may be viewed.

Supporting information should demonstrate:

your participation or engagement in the activity
your reflection on your learning
that the activity is educationally useful, or of genuine value to you
that the activity is relevant to your practice. You should retain a copy of your job plan / personal development plan as supporting information.

Supporting information might include:

attendance records, certificates, and personal reflections
emails confirming/thanking you for completed work
screenshots from mobile phones and other smart devices
reflective notes.

Approved courses and events

The College offers an approval service for course and event providers. Event completion certificates should detail the number of credits for full attendance at the event. You should claim the appropriate number of educationally useful credits you believe the event was worth, even if a higher number is printed on the certificate.

College regional/local events do not need to be approved through this service and members can self-accredit their CPD for these in their CPD portfolio.

Annual statements and CPD returns

An annual CPD return is a submission of the CPD activities that you have participated in within each given CPD year. The College CPD year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

Annual returns may be made at any time, but you should plan to make your submission within 6 months of the CPD year end (by 30 September). Late returns may also be made in order to keep your CPD portfolio up to date.

A summary of the activities in your return can be downloaded and shared. Many members find this a useful service to support their annual appraisal with their employer, or for revalidation. Members can download content in a variety of ways:

a single activity
an annual report
a report covering a bespoke period.

Additionally, upon your submission we will collate your data and release it back to you in the form of a CPD statement. Please allow up to 5 business days to receive this, though usually the turnaround is quicker.