Continuing Professional Development

Study guide

Unit 9 covers the GDC enhanced CPD scheme: how much CPD is required, how it is planned, how it is evidenced and what must be declared. It is administrative detail, which is exactly why it is examined precisely.

Hours and the cycle

The numbers are specific to your registered title, and the scheme runs on a fixed cycle.

• The enhanced CPD scheme runs on a five-year cycle.
• Dental nurses and dental technicians must complete 50 hours per cycle. Therapists, hygienists, orthodontic therapists and clinical dental technicians require 75 hours, and dentists 100.
• At least 10 hours must be completed across any two consecutive CPD years, so activity cannot all be left to the end.
• A single year with zero declared hours is permitted, provided that two-year minimum is still met — two consecutive zero years are not.

Development outcomes and the PDP

The enhanced scheme is built around purpose: each activity is tied to a development need rather than simply accumulated.

• There are four development outcomes, labelled A to D. A covers communication, B management of self and others, C knowledge and skills within the field of practice, and D professional behaviour and maintaining confidence in the profession.
• Every verifiable activity must be linked to at least one outcome, and may map to several.
• A personal development plan sets out planned CPD and must be maintained and adjusted across the cycle, not written once.
• Your field of practice describes the work you actually do, so that CPD targets real learning needs.

Verifiable CPD, evidence and records

Only verifiable CPD counts under the enhanced scheme, and "verifiable" has a definition.

• Verifiable activity has documented aims and learning outcomes and produces evidence of participation — the delivery format is irrelevant.
• A certificate of attendance or participation is the evidence you keep; the GDC may ask to see it.
• Records comprise the activity log with outcomes linked, the PDP, and the evidence from each activity.
• Records must be kept for five years after the end of the cycle.

Declarations and responsibility

The scheme is enforced through statements you make yourself, which is why accuracy matters.

• An annual statement declaring the verifiable CPD completed is submitted each year.
• An end-of-cycle statement is required in addition, when the five years finish.
• CPD is a personal registration requirement — an employer may fund and support it, but responsibility cannot be transferred.
• Failure to comply or to make the required statements can lead to removal from the register.

In the exam This unit is almost entirely factual recall, so the marks are there for the taking. Learn the four stages of the cycle — plan, do, reflect, record — and the numbers: five-year cycle, 50 hours for a dental nurse, 10 hours minimum across any two consecutive years, records kept five years after the cycle ends.