What activities count as CPD?

Standard 1: Maintain a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of their CPD activities

(Standards of continuing professional development)

CPD is not just formal courses, a CPD activity is any activity from which you learn or develop professionally, though you should ensure that these complement your practice and enhance the service you provide.

It can be as simple as:

• Reflecting on patient contact at the end of the day
• Discussing and reviewing activities with other members of staff
• Observing how others operate in your workplace
• Adapting your own methods of working

Your CPD activities might be work-based, professional, formal or self-directed and should enhance the service you provide for service users. You should make your own decisions about the CPD that is most beneficial to you, your practice and your career.

Categories

• Work-based learning. For example, reflecting on experiences at work, considering feedback from service users or being a member of a committee.
• Professional activity. For example, being involved in a professional body or giving a presentation at a conference.
• Formal education. For example, going on formal courses or carrying out research.
• Self-directed learning. For example, reading articles or books.

Choosing activities

CPD activities must include a mixture of different types of learning, so you'll need to carry out at least two different types of activity. In practice, most registrants will carry out many different types of learning while registered with us.

If you were audited and had only carried out one type of learning – for example, if you had only read professional journals but had not carried out any other kind of learning – you would not meet our standard.

Completing a CPD profile for audit

Examples

Examples of CPD activities are below. These have been adapted from work done by the Allied Health Professions’ project ‘Demonstrating competence through CPD’ (2003).