The framework defines a new category of ineligible companies, defined as any entity whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

• Ineligible companies cannot provide accredited education.
• Ineligible companies cannot have any involvement or influence on decisions related to the planning, educator selection, delivery, and evaluation of accredited CPD.
• Owners or employees of ineligible companies must be excluded from controlling content or participating as planners or educators in accredited education.
• Sponsorship from ineligible companies is still permitted, subject to special rules.
• All those involved in planning or delivering accredited education must disclose financial ties to ineligible companies, and relevant ties must be mitigated by the organiser.

For all educational activity that includes clinical topics, relevant financial relationships must be identified, appropriately mitigated and disclosed to learners. See Appendix 1 of the Guidelines for more information on these requirements.

The new CPD Activity Criteria outlined by the Medical Council must be reflected in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of each activity. These criteria ensure that all accredited CPD offerings maintain a high standard of quality and academic rigour, while also being tailored to meet the educational needs of doctors in Ireland.

CPD Activity Criteria

• Educational Needs - CPD activities incorporate the educational needs that underlie the professional practice gaps of the learners.
• Change Competence, Performance, and/or Patient Outcomes - CPD activities are aligned with the Irish College of GPs CPD mission to support GPs in maintaining and improving the level of safe, effective patient care through educational opportunities relevant to their scope of practice.
• Appropriate Formats - Educational formats are appropriate for the setting, objectives, and desired results of the CPD activity.
• Competencies - CPD activities are planned in the context of the Eight Domains of Good Professional Practice.
• Analyses Change - The organiser analyses changes in learners as a result of participating in a CPD activity.

The Medical Council Standards for Integrity and Independence ensure the independence and validity of all accredited CPD activities. These standards provide an important guard against potential influence of commercial bias in accredited CPD activities.

At least one member of the organising/planning team of the activity must be a doctor who holds specialist registration with the Irish Medical Council. The relevant details should be included in the appropriate section of the application form, including the doctor’s MCRN. The Medical Lead holds responsibility for ensuring the scientific validity and objectivity of the educational content, and that it is appropriate and relevant to General Practice and supportive of doctors’ maintenance of Professional Competence.

Applications should be submitted at least four weeks in advance of the event. It is advisable to submit applications before you intend to advertise or issue invitations for your event. This allows sufficient time if further information is required for the review or if recommendations to address issues are required. Activities cannot be accredited retrospectively.

Applications are generally processed in four weeks, but may take more time if it is a particularly busy period or further details are needed for review.
We will update you on the progress of your application by email. Please be mindful that emails from the application system may go into your spam folder. You can also find the status of your application on your Dashboard.

Full details of application fees are available in Appendix 3 of the CPD Accreditation Guidelines. Fees are automatically calculated in the online application form and non-refundable. You should ensure the activity is eligible for accreditation and requirements are met before submitting an application. 

As the organiser of an educational activity, you must:

• Review all CPD Accreditation Guidelines and Sponsorship Policy before submitting an application to ensure all criteria and requirements are met
• Identify, review and mitigate any relevant financial relationships for all individuals involved in the control of the educational content
• Ensure the necessary disclosures of the presence or absence of relevant financial relationships are made
• Inform learners of who is responsible for the CPD activity and its accreditation
• Ensure all requirements regarding sponsorship, marketing and sales are met
• Keep the necessary records and details of any sponsorship received, activity documentation, slides, attendance, feedback and certificates for the retention period of the current PCS year plus two years
• Provide evidence of attendance to all learners who participated in the activity, in the form of a certificate or CPDR code

If you are organising a recurring activity, i.e. the exact same event with the same educational content/speakers that is repeated on a number of occasions, within the same PCS year (May-April), they can be submitted and reviewed within one application. It is necessary to provide a confirmed schedule of dates, venues and topics with the application.

No, each instance of an activity must be individually assessed.

On-demand activities are accredited for 12 months only and must be re-submitted for another 12 months if the activity is continuing. You should re-apply for continuing on-demand activities at least 4 weeks prior to the end date of your previous accreditation.

Yes, as long as they meet all the criteria for accreditation as outlined in the Guidelines, including but not limited to keeping attendance records, evaluating the impact on learners, and abiding by rules around marketing and financial disclosures. 

Yes, as long as they meet all the criteria for accreditation as outlined in the Guidelines, including but not limited to monitoring learner engagement, evaluating the impact on learners, and abiding by rules around marketing and financial disclosures. If a CPDR code is requested, the module must be set up so that the code is only given to those who complete all required elements. On-demand education is accredited for a 12-month period starting on a date specified by the applicant. You should re-apply for continuing on-demand activities at least 4 weeks prior to the end date of your previous accreditation.

Work-based learning activities (previously internal credits) such as practice meetings, research, teaching, examining, peer discussion, journal clubs, fall into the Work-Based Learning CPD category and are not eligible for CPD accreditation.
A recording of a webinar available for viewing after the live event can be self-recorded under Work-Based Learning, 1 hour = 1 CPD credit.
An activity which has already been accredited by another postgraduate medical training body should not be submitted for accreditation from the Irish College of GPs.

Examples of event content not eligible for accreditation include:

• Registration, breaks, meals, awards/prize-giving ceremonies, announcements, opening/closing remarks, etc.
• Product promotion, “meet the sponsors”, time in exhibit area
• Unmoderated poster viewing
• Business/committee meetings, e.g. AGMs 

No, a certificate of attendance issued by another Irish postgraduate medical training body will be recognised by other training bodies as evidence of a doctor’s participation in that activity. The certificate of attendance should clearly state who is the accrediting body. It is only necessary to apply for CPD accreditation to one Irish postgraduate medical training body.

Under Medical Council guidelines, companies which produce, market, resell or distribute products consumed by or used on patients are no longer eligible to seek accreditation for their activities.
Applications for accreditation of activities organised and/or hosted by such organisations will no longer be accepted.
Accredited activities may receive financial support from ineligible companies in the form of unrestricted grants, but the support must be managed appropriately in line with the guidelines and requirements. Detailed rules for sponsorship can be found in Appendix 2 of the CPD Accreditation Guidelines.

You will need to provide information about the educational content of your activity when making an application for accreditation. The following gives an idea of the minimum information you should have to hand when making an application. 
For a live activity (online or in person):

• Details of the event including the date, time, and venue
• Details of the event’s Medical Lead including their Medical Council Registration Number (MCRN)
• Specific learning objectives and Eight Domains
• Details of any sponsorship including amounts
• An agenda (PDF or Word) showing the start and end time of each session, topic/title, and speaker (name and role)
• Any additional supporting material such as a copy of the invitation, marketing material, sample content, certificate template, evaluation form
  For an on-demand activity:
• The date the 1-year validity should begin
• Details of the activity’s Medical Lead including their Medical Council Registration Number (MCRN)
• Specific learning objectives and Eight Domains
• Details of any sponsorship including amounts
• A detailed outline of the activity, including topics and estimated time for each element and a list of those involved in planning and creating the content
• Any additional supporting material such as marketing material, sample content, certificate template, evaluation form

After approval, organisers can access the details of credits and GMS study leave (as applicable) through the application portal. Any advertising or information about the event can now be updated to include the details of approval, using the wording “This activity has been accredited by the Irish College of GPs for [X credits and Y days GMS study leave] and can be recorded as Accredited CE.” 

It is necessary to provide evidence of participation to attendees, in the form of a certificate of attendance or CPDR code.
Certificates of attendance should include the doctor’s name, ARN, details of the event and organising body, and the correct number of credits and GMS study leave assigned to the event, the accreditation statement. No sponsor company name, logo or corporate message should appear on the certificate. See our template for sample wording. 
Organisers should ensure that they keep documentation of the event including:

• Attendance records
• A copy of the certificate provided or record of the CPDR code
• Learner feedback forms
• Records of the disclosure forms, review process and mitigation measures taken
• Slides
• Activity documentation related to the planning and delivery of the activity, including any sponsorship.

These should be retained for the current PCS year (May-April) plus two years.

Yes, doctors who present/speak at the activity are entitled to record Accredited CE for their participation and should be provided with the same evidence of attendance as given to participants.

The quality assurance process is currently under review, and more information will be available in due course. Please ensure that you retain activity documentation as detailed in the Guidelines.

Issued by the Irish College of GPs, these codes can be entered into the PCS ePortfolio to automatically generate a certificate and record of an accredited event’s details. Codes are issued for all College education, and to externally organised education where the organiser has paid an additional fee. Please see the CPDR Code Policy for further information.

The CPDR code is given to verified attendees in lieu of a personalised certificate. Note that the code can only be used by doctors enrolled on the Irish College of GPs Professional Competence Scheme (PCS). If you have attendees who are not GPs, these may still require a personalised certificate of attendance/participation.

Each CPDR code is associated with one specific activity or event and may only be distributed to those who have verifiably attended or completed the activity.

Organisers have the option to have their activity/event included on the College’s events calendar. The calendar is accessible both publicly on the College website and within the ePortfolio, and it is also integrated into the Professional Development Plan (PDP) template. Calendar listings include the title and date of the event, details of its accreditation, and an email address or URL provided by the applicant. Please note that the calendar is publicly available. If you do not wish your activity to be included on the calendar, simply indicate this on your application form.