Your guide to the online CPD portfolio
The College’s CPD portfolio provides access to an easy-to-use system for storing and cataloguing the activities and CPD credits that you undertake to improve and enhance your practice. Your online CPD 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. Also, a shortfall in CPD activity at the end of a fixed 5-year cycle is difficult to make up; the use of a rolling cycle allows the average amount of activity to be maintained over a 5-year period if a shortfall occurs.
Further information on our services is given below.
Recording CPD activities
CPD activities are recorded as CPD credits in the appropriate CPD year. The CPD year runs from 1 April to 31 March the following year. Activities should ideally 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
- educationally useful, or of genuine value to you
- 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 note
- emails confirming/thanking you for work done
- 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 a summary of the CPD activities that you have participated in in a 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 six months of the CPD year end, so by 30 September. However, 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.
In addition, when you make a CPD return we will then collate your data and release it back to you in the form of a CPD statement. Please allow a week for this to be received, although usually this is turned around more quickly than this.
Support
You can access our .pdf guide to the CPD portfolio for further information, our series of video tutorials, and our guidance on how many CPD credits may be claimed for different activity types.
If you have any questions about any aspect of the CPD portfolio or surround services, then please contact the CPD team at [email protected] or call 020 7451 6720.
Guidance videos
We also have video tutorials below on how to use various aspects of the online portfolio.
