Frequently asked questions for GPs

Frequently asked questions for GPs

Education > CPD Home > Continuing professional development for GPs > 2023-25 Triennium > Frequently Asked Questions for GPs
Last updated 17 September 2024

CPD in 2024

The Medical Board of Australia CPD Registration Standard, effective 1 January 2023, introduced a Professional Performance Framework that affects how doctors undertake CPD. These changes are to ensure you’re engaging in learning that’s relevant, effective and evidence based. To meet this standard, doctors must: 

  1. have a CPD home
  2. write a Professional Development Plan (PDP) at the beginning of each year and complete it annually
  3. record 50 hours of CPD annually which includes: 
    • 25 hours - Reviewing Performance (RP) and Measuring Outcomes (MO) - with five hours minimum of each type.  Reviewing Performance are activities that require reflection on feedback about your work and Measuring Outcomes are activities that use your work data to ensure quality results.
    • 12.5 hours - traditional learning or Educational Activities (EA), e.g., reading, lectures, podcasts, webinars, conferences, etc. Educational Activities are activities that expand your general practice knowledge, skills and attitudes, related to your scope of practice
    • 12.5 hours free choice of activities – allocate these CPD hours as you wish across one, two or all three activity types
      (A CPD activity can cover a combination of two or more of these activity types. This is referred to as a hybrid activity.)
  4. include CPD activities related to culturally safe practice, health inequities and professionalism and ethical practice
  5. for Specialist GPs, complete a CPR course once each triennium, e.g. once in the 2023-25 triennium
  6. retain records of your annual CPD activity for audit by your CPD home and the Medical Board of Australia for three years after the end of each one-year cycle. 
Click here for further information. 

Program-level requirements from 2024

The Medical Board of Australia CPD Registration Standard, effective 1 January 2023, requires all registered medical practitioners to engage in CPD activities relevant to:  

  • culturally safe practice  
  • health inequities  
  • professionalism and ethical practice.

These are not additional to, but part of your 50 hours of CPD. Each year, you must include at least one activity in your CPD that addresses each of these areas relevant to your scope of practice. 

It can be an ‘in practice’ activity or a specific learning objective and may combine one or more of these elements or address them separately. It’s up to you and should be considered in relation to your individual needs. Please visit our program-level requirements page for further information.

Your PDP includes a reflection on each of the program-level requirements that will help you to meet these.
 
All the RACGP CPD Approved activities are also mapped to the relevant program-level requirements, so it is easier for you to find them through the myCPD Home > Browse.  

If you use Quick log to record a CPD activity relating to one or more of the program-level requirements, you’ll be able to simply tick the relevant PLR box and it will be added to your myCPD record.  

 
You must complete one activity from each program level area each CPD year.  
Yes, you should select activities that meet your professional scope of practice.
Further details are available on the RACGP website as well as the Australian Medical Council
The RACGP is required to report on every CPD home members' compliance with the CPD hours, Professional Development Plan (PDP), specialist high-level requirements and program-level requirements. 

MBA CPD requirements

All doctors registered with AHPRA need to meet their 50-hour requirements relevant to their registration type. This includes part-time GPs.

The MBA CPD Registration Standard applies to all registered medical practitioners except:

  • medical students
  • interns in accredited intern training programs and doctors in postgraduate year 2 positions who are participating in a structured program that leads to a certificate of completion
  • medical practitioners who have limited registration in the public interest or limited registration for teaching or research (to demonstrate a procedure or participate in a workshop) and who have been granted registration for no more than four weeks
  • medical practitioners who are granted an exemption or variation from this standard by their CPD home in relation to continuous absence from practice of at least six months and up to and including 12 months for parental or carer leave, serious illness or other approved circumstances
  • medical practitioners with non-practising registration.

Aligned with the MBA CPD Registration standard, you can apply for an exemption if you have had a continuous 6-to 12-month leave of absence due to the following:

  • parental leave   
  • carer's leave
  • serious illness  
  • other approved circumstances (e.g., cultural leave, sabbatical, long service leave) 

Complete this online form to apply for a CPD exemption or variation for approval by the RACGP.

PEP participants must meet the CPD requirements set by the MBA which includes a Professional Development Plan (PDP) and 50 hours of CPD according to the CPD types. If you are on continuous leave for a minimum of six months and up to 12 months, you may be entitled to some CPD exemption, for more information please refer to RACGP CPD exemption or variation policy. Complete this online form to apply for a CPD exemption or variation for approval by the RACGP CPD Home.

Specialist trainees or registrars  will meet the CPD requirements by participating in an accredited specialist training program and their accredited specialist medical college becomes their CPD Home by default. For the RACGP, this includes the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) and Fellowship Support Program (FSP) specialist training programs and RACGP CPD Home becomes the trainees’ or Registrars’ CPD Home by default. However, if you are working as a doctor outside the training program while on an approved leave from training, you become personally responsible for meeting your annual MBA CPD requirements. You may be entitled to a CPD exemption or variation depending on when you started working as a doctor outside of the training program while on leave. To apply for CPD exemption or variation, please complete this application form.

For more information, please refer to the CPD Guide for GP Training.

Newly Fellowed GPs (FRACGP and/or FARGP) will have modified CPD requirements for the year Fellowship is ratified. Fellows could be entitled to either full or partial ‘credit’ towards the MBA requirements. To meet the MBA’s requirements, those who Fellow between January to June need to complete: 

  • Professional development plan (PDP)
  • 10 hours of any CPD activity type
  • 10 hours of reviewing performance and/or measuring outcomes.

The RACGP will award 30 CPD hours credit for those who Fellow between January and June, allocated on your CPD statement as 15 hours EA, 7.5 hours RP, and 7.5hrs MO. If the date of Fellowship is from July onwards, a ‘full credit’ for the remainder of the year will be granted.

RACGP CPD Home

A CPD home is an organisation accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC), to provide a CPD program for medical practitioners. As a CPD home, the RACGP must:  
  • provide infrastructure to house medical practitioners’ CPD program/s  
  • publish details of requirements, content/activities and fees associated with the provision of its CPD program/s  
  • ensure the relevance and developmental value of its CPD activities  
  • provide advice and support to practitioners on CPD requirements and relevant CPD activities  
  • report to the MBA on compliance with CPD requirements  
  • be accredited by the AMC and report on compliance within the accreditation criteria  
To fulfil the Medical Board of Australia’s (MBA) CPD Registration Standard, you will need to participate in a CPD program delivered by an Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredited CPD home. You will need to advise Ahpra of your CPD home when renewing your registration each year.
As a member, the RACGP is your CPD home. 
 
Members have access to the RACGP’s myCPD. When you log into your RACGP account you will find tools to help you:   For more information about the RACGP as your CPD Home, refer to the RACGP - Member declaration.
If you are not currently a member and want to make the RACGP your CPD home, express your interest here or contact our Member Services team on 1800 472 247 or racgp@racgp.org.au

Professional Development Plan and CPD types

The MBA CPD Registration Standard requires all registered doctors to complete a Professional Development Plan (PDP) annually. A PDP is a plan that outlines how you would like your CPD to address your learning goals for that year. 

The PDP is your personal and private document. The RACGP will not be reviewing or sharing your PDP. 

You can use the RACGP’s online PDP or upload your own document. The RACGP’s auditing requirements do not include review of PDP content. Reporting is based on status of PDP completion. You can claim up to five hours (capped) of Reviewing Performance annually for completion of your PDP. 
 
The RACGP’s PDP is composed of six questions. It captures your current situation, learning goals, reflection on culturally safe practice, health inequities, professionalism and ethical practice and an annual reflection. 
 
At the beginning of each year, you will reflect on the previous year, and update your PDP for the year ahead. The process of reflection and learning is ongoing so you can edit your PDP whenever you like. 
Educational Activities 
Activities that expand your general practice knowledge, skills and attitudes, related to your scope of practice. These activities include learning opportunities like lectures, webinars, workshops, reading, podcasts and courses. It is a one-way intake of information.  
 
Reviewing Performance  
Activities that require reflection on feedback about your work. Feedback might be from patients, peers or self-reflection. In each of these situations, you’ll receive information about your performance that can either validate what you already do or identify areas for improvement. Meaningful reflection on this information is where the learning occurs and can result in improved capability in your scope of practice. Our Reviewing Performance tool can help you do this.   
 
Measuring Outcomes  
Activities that use your work data to ensure quality results. When measuring outcomes, you use data from your work to show you’re aware of current evidence and best practice in a particular area. You could achieve this by conducting activities like research, audits or evaluations. This type of learning can help you achieve high-quality performance in your scope of practice by facilitating quality improvements. Use our Measuring Outcomes tool to record quality improvement or assurance activities. 
 
Hybrid Activities 
Many CPD activities include more than one activity type. High quality educational activities like workshops, courses, small group learning, for example, are designed to be interactive and offer opportunities for you to consider how to apply your new knowledge or skills in your practice setting. The RACGP and our providers offer a broad range of hybrid activities across the three activity types.  
 
When you self-record the activities you do in your day-to-day practice (using Quick Log), you also can allocate the CPD hours across the three activity types. Whilst the RACGP has tools to guide you, you have the flexibility to decide how you do this.

CPD activities to meet your 50 hours of CPD per calendar year

You now have more flexibility when recording CPD. Any activities relevant to your scope of practice that maintains or upskills and that is not the direct delivery of patient care can be recorded as CPD. 
 
In your day-to-day practice you may already be doing a lot of things that can count towards your CPD hours. You can include a wide range of activities that help you be a better GP. This can include routine things you do on your own in between patients, at the end of the day or to address the needs of specific patient(s). Use the CPD in your Practice for guidance. 
 
You can also include activities that you do with others, such as practice meetings, audits and practice accreditation activity, teaching, supervision, mentoring and team care planning/case-based discussions. You can also include peer to peer conversations and educational activities that help you manage your health and wellbeing.  
 
At the beginning of the year, identify any CPD you will be doing where your hours will be recorded on your behalf (refer to ‘Recording your CPD hours’ below). Tally these hours and identify the remaining number of hours and types to meet your annual CPD requirements.

You may be doing work indirectly related to patient care that can be recognised as CPD.   
 
You might be a practice owner, a mentor, an extended skills leader. You might manage team-care based arrangements, support students or GPs in training, or offer wellbeing support to others.   
 
Some of the activities you do in these roles, as well as all work-based teaching, supervision, examination, and assessment activity is recognised as CPD. Activities that advance your knowledge and skills including reflection through interaction with a colleague, deconstructing clinical decisions, sharing and testing ideas and skills and evaluating your own performance or practice are examples of CPD that may be related to your work and that can contribute to your CPD requirement across the appropriate activity type(s).  
 
You can decide how you allocate the hours across the activity types, depending on what it is you do. You can Quick Log activities as you do them, or you can upload more routine activities as frequently as is convenient.   
 
Please note if any of the work you do is for the RACGP (either as a staff member or via a Statement of Works), your CPD hours will be uploaded for you. 
 
Some activities relating to teaching and supervision can be recognised as CPD. Activities that advance your knowledge and skills including reflection through interaction with a colleague, deconstructing clinical decisions, sharing and testing ideas and skills and evaluating your own performance or practice are examples of CPD that may be related to your work and that can contribute to your CPD requirement across the appropriate activity type(s).  
 
This applies to GPs who are examiners, lecturers, teachers, assessors or those who develop and review educational content, for organisations like the RACGP, a university, or any other education provider. Research and development of clinical resources also counts as CPD. Access our policies and guidelines for further information.  
 
You might be a committee member, advocate, academic or researcher, some of the activities related to these roles will contribute to your CPD hours. You can decide how you allocate the hours across the activity types, depending on what it is you do. Refer to the Activities for your CPD for guidance. 
 
Please note if any of the work you do is for the RACGP (either as a staff member or via a Statement of Works), your CPD hours will be uploaded for you. 
 
You may spend more hours in these roles than what we upload for you as per our guidelines. The MBA requires medical practitioners to undertake a variety of CPD to meet their requirements, rather than have all CPD requirements met by completing one activity.   
 

CPD Activities for your other role(s) or scope of practice recorded for you by the RACGP

GPs who work for or with the RACGP (either as a staff member or via a Statement of Works (SoW)) through GP Training, examining, developing education resources and/or committees, your CPD hours relevant to your role or SoW will be uploaded for you.

If you are involved in teaching or supervising medical students in a university setting, please refer to our CPD for GP supervisors affiliated with Australian medical schools and check with your University for more information.

Recording your CPD hours

You can use the Quick log function in the myCPD website or RACGP myCPD mobile app (available on Apple and Android) to record any non-RACGP CPD Approved activity that you do and find professionally valuable. Quick Log lets you easily upload evidence relevant to your CPD activities for safekeeping. This documentation is helpful in the event your CPD is audited. Watch this video for guidance. 

No. We are committed to delivering a CPD program that reduces the administrative burden for our members.  

If you choose to complete an activity offered by the RACGP or network of over 450 CPD providers, your hours will be uploaded to your myCPD Home automatically. 
 
You might notice a small delay between your completion date and seeing your hours displayed in your myCPD History. We give our providers 30 days to upload completions into our system. Please do not Quick log your completion of any activities that you accessed via myCPD Browse as this will create a duplicate record. If you are concerned that an activity completion is missing from your records, contact the activity provider or your local CPD team can assist you. 

The RACGP provides GPs and practices with tools and activity guides to assist with the implementation and recording of activities. Allocating hours of CPD to the three activity types for audits, practice meetings and other CPD activities will depend on its purpose and the nature of the activity itself.  
 
Preparation time and participation at meetings can also be claimed for CPD. If you were discussing clinical cases, practice improvements, audit results or feedback, you may also like to include the time that you spent reflecting and implementing changes to your practice, if applicable. Refer to CPD in your Practice for guidance. 
 
We are committed to offering a CPD program that reduces the administrative burden on our members. We are working on solutions that would enable your practice manager to upload your activity completions on behalf of GPs in your practice setting. 

GPs who have participated in the accreditation of their practice will be awarded five CPD hours, per year, equally split as 2.5 hours of Reviewing Performance and 2.5 hours of Measuring Outcomes. This totals 15 hours for participation in practice accreditation between 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025. The RACGP will administer the allocation of these CPD hours to GPs from data provided by the accreditation agencies on a quarterly basis, except for QPA which GPs have to quick log.

Dual fellowships and specialist high-level requirements

There are some doctors with FRACGP who hold additional Fellowships, such as in public health medicine, occupational health medicine, psychiatry, or any other medical specialty. The RACGP refers to these doctors as Dual Fellows.
 
Dual Fellows are required to meet the CPD registration standard in each of their specialties and/or scopes of practice. 

Where possible, practitioners will be able to complete their CPD within a single CPD home that covers all their specialties/scopes of practice. The number of hours and type of activities that practitioners with more than one specialty and/or scope of practice are required to complete will depend on their individual circumstances. Please refer to the RACGP’s Dual Fellowships CPD guide for more detailed guidance on how to meet your CPD requirements.

It is important that dual fellows are aware of the MBA approved high-level requirements set by some specialist colleges. For general practice your high-level requirement is to complete CPR every triennium (which is currently 2023-2025). You must check whether your other specialist medical college has any approved high-level requirements which can be viewed here.

You can access and manage your additional requirements for your fellowships through myCPD. You do this by using the Dual Fellowship tool in myCPD. This will allow you to add your additional specialty to your dashboard.
There are no additional CPD requirements for doctors who hold both FRACGP and FACRRM. If you complete CPD requirements for FACRRM, you will meet all the CPD requirements as a specialist general practitioner (FRACGP). 

Some specialist colleges have high-level requirements approved by the MBA.

All GPs have a specialist high level requirement which is to complete CPR every triennium, e.g. current triennium is 2023 - 25. This requirement is already built into myCPD dashboard so that you can easily track your progress.

If you hold a dual Fellowship (i.e., you have a separate specialist Fellowship with another specialist medical college) you must check whether your other specialist medical college has any approved high-level requirements which can be viewed here. 

There are no additional CPD requirements for doctors who hold both FRACGP and FACRRM. If you complete CPD requirements for FACRRM, you will meet all the CPD requirements as a specialist general practitioner (FRACGP). 

All doctors must do CPD that aligns with their scope of practice / role(s). Many GPs have more than one role, and members should allocate their CPD hours to support their work in these roles.

Doctors with qualifications, endorsements, or interests, who need (or want) to fulfil specific CPD or CPD-like requirements can count these activities as CPD within the RACGP CPD Program. To do so, the qualifications and endorsements should relate to their role in the profession of general practice (clinical or non-clinical). 

Those who might have additional CPD requirements could include:  

  • A FRACGP who holds Diplomas in a specific field, such as obstetrics. 
  • A GP with a specific interest/ role that encourages or requires a specific CPD requirement for practice. This includes diagnostic radiology, mental health practice, medical acupuncture, women’s reproductive health, surgical services, or anaesthesia as well as credentialling at local hospitals or other services. 

For GPs with Medical Acupuncture Specific Requirement, we no longer have to report the 2020-22 triennium as well as subsequent year/s or triennium Medical Acupuncture requirements completion to Medicare or Services Australia. You now have to complete your Application for endorsement for Acupuncture and direct your queries to Ahpra. 

Current specific requirements are as follows: 


Specific Requirement topic 
 		  
CPD activity type and hours required 
Frequency 
Anaesthesia  Rural General Anaesthetists (RGA) CPD requirements   
From 2024 the recommended CPD requirements include:  
  • Annual completion of one Emergency response activity 
  • One of the following Practice evaluation activities completed annually:  
    • Patient survey 
    • Multi-source feedback (MSF) 
    • Peer review or 
    • Audit 
    • RACGP specific CPD activities: 
      • Supervised clinical attachment preferably with a specialist anaesthetist 
      • Practice audit directly related to anaesthesia 
 Annual basis 
Medical Acupuncture  A minimum total of 12 hours of Medical Acupuncture specific CPD hours is recommended as follows: 
  • 4 hours of Educational Activities 
  • 4 hours of Measuring Outcomes 
  • 4 hours of Reviewing Performance 
For more information, please refer to AMAC CPD information.  
 
The RACGP no longer reports on Medical Acupuncture requirements completion to Medicare or Services Australia. You have to complete your Application for endorsement for Acupuncture and direct your queries to Ahpra.		 Triennial basis 
Women’s Health 

The College recognises that Associates (Procedural and Advanced Procedural) and Certificants are already engaged in activities that are aligned to scope of practice, and governed by jurisdiction/hospital credential processes.

From 1 January 2024, it will be a condition of meeting annual CPD requirements that Associates (Procedural and Advanced Procedural) and Certificants are CPD-compliant with their respective CPD Homes.

Completion of a Professional Development Plan (PDP) is a mandatory requirement for all College CPD Homes. To maintain CPD requirements, Associates (Procedural and Advanced Procedural) and Certificants will be required to include goal(s)/activity(s) for women’s reproductive health, aligned to their scope of practice, and provide evidence of completion of activities in their CPD portal, as follows:

8 CPD hours of activities relating to women’s reproductive health, with a minimum of:

  • Educational Activities (EA):  4 hours
  • Measuring Outcomes (MO): 2 hours
  • Reviewing Performance (RP): 2 hours
  Annual basis from 2024 
Diagnostic Radiology  To be determined.
 
The RACGP reports triennial compliance to Medicare.  		 To be determined  
Mental Health  See General Practice Mental Health Standards Collaboration    
Mental Health Skills Training (MHST)  Triennial basis  
Focussed Psychological Strategies Skills Training (FPS_ST)  Triennial basis 
The Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) provides financial assistance to GPs who provide procedural and/or emergency medicine services in unsupervised settings in rural and remote areas. See www.racgp.org.au/rpgp for further information. 

MBA CPD auditing requirements

CPD homes are required to provide a report to the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) on the compliance of participants with their CPD program, within six months of conclusion of each annual CPD cycle.  
 
All CPD homes are required to have an audit system in place to review the quality of activity submissions. The MBA requires that CPD homes audit at least five percent of practitioners’ CPD records annually.  
 
The RACGP's Quality Assurance Audit policy is available here.  
 
How do I record my activities accurately to ensure I meet audit requirements? 
There are several ways to ensure you meet audit requirements.  
  • Add sufficient detail to the activity title in Quick log when self-recording activities. Use the drop-down options but add extra information such as the clinical/practice topic, organisation, or date. 
  • Provide sufficient detail in the reflection to indicate what you have learned from the activity. Provide extra information that may not fit in the title.  
  • We strongly recommend uploading evidence. Though this is optional it is useful as a) it is an additional repository of evidence to your own system; b) it allows CPD Program Coordinators to assess whether the evidence provided justifies the hours and CPD types claimed.  
  • Ensure your reflection and/or evidence uploaded justifies the hours and CPD types claimed. I.e., if you are claiming MO, indicate how patient/work data was used. A detailed reflection or provision of evidence allows the CPD Program Coordinator to review the activity and communications will only be instigated if they have questions or recommendations.  

If you are unhappy with the result of an audit conducted on your CPD in particular; where you've been advised that your CPD activity does not meet the requirements of the CPD program or you have not complied with the Registration standard, and you would like either further information or to provide feedback, please email cpd.national@racgp.org.au.  
 
If, after this communication, you want to dispute the outcome of the audit, you can do so using the Dispute, Reconsideration and Appeals Policy.  

If you need specific advice on CPD activities to meet performance management or remediation requirements, you can email the CPD team directly on cpd.national@racgp.org.au.  All enquiries will be managed in confidence. 
 
Further information is available in the Guide to performance management and support for general practitioners; Essential principles for managing performance concerns.

All member data is managed in accordance with the RACGP’s privacy policy.

Other Information

The Medical Board of Australia has notified CPD homes that all doctors must complete their annual CPD requirements within the calendar year. There will be no CPD grace period at the end of 2024 and moving forward. The RACGP will support you in identifying all the CPD you have completed within the CPD calendar year ensuring that you have recorded them appropriately to meet your CPD requirements.
CPD hours more than the 50-hour minimum requirement across CPD types cannot be carried across into the next CPD calendar year.

Any proposed changes to the CPD program/requirements will be communicated at least six months in advance through multiple member channels including the following:  

  • Statement made on website  
  • Included on App and myCPD  
  • Included in monthly CPD newsletter  
  • Direct correspondence to all members by email   
  • Social media   

We’ll update the RACGP website regularly with information about the 2023–25 CPD triennium.  
 
You can also contact the RACGP’s CPD team on 03 8699 0349 or cpd.national@racgp.org.au.  
 
All RACGP state/territory faculties have a local CPD team who can help with your specific queries. You can find the contact details for each team here.