The Continuous Professional Development Support Scheme (CPD-SS) is an educational programme open to all NCHDs (non consultant hospital doctors) working in the public health service who are: 

• not enrolled in an intern training programme or on a postgraduate specialist training programme such as BST (Basic Specialist Training) or HST (Higher Specialist Training) 
• working in the public health service and hold a 2010 NCHD contract within the HSE (Health Service Executive) 
• on the General or Supervised Division of the Register of Medical Practitioners maintained by the Medical Council 
• enrolled on a RCPI Professional Competence Scheme applicable to your specialty 
• registered and have paid your Professional Competence Scheme subscription 

You must meet all essential requirements to be offered a place in CPD-SS

• Learners have two opportunities to apply for CPD-SS each year. The first application process runs from mid July to September each year. Successful applicants can expect to begin enrolling in courses from October.  
• A second application is open in December each year and closes end of January. Successful applicants can expect to begin enrolling in courses from February.
• Please note that you can only apply for CPD-SS once per year - you cannot re-apply in December for more credits if you are already enrolled into CPD-SS for the given year

• Successful applicants will meet all the criteria listed above. 
• You must have registered and have paid your Professional Competence Scheme subscription with RCPI by time of application 
• If you successfully apply for CPD-SS in September, you cannot reapply in December.  Those who attempt to apply again will have their applications rejected. 
• If you have any questions regarding an unsuccessful application, please contact cpdss@rcpi.ie 

• CPD-SS participants can use their vouchers on to enroll in our NCHD courses and unique events promoted on the CPD-SS hub each term. Vouchers are also valid for all self-paced online courses. You can view our Course Catalogue to find more information 
• Should you wish to use your vouchers for a course not indicated above OR any of our RCPI events, please contact cpdss@rcpi.ie 

Once you have successfully applied for CPD-SS you will be sent your voucher code via email. If you forget or can no longer find your voucher code is, please contact cpdss@rcpi.ie for your voucher code to be reissued.

• CPD-SS vouchers are not valid for all courses.When browsing our Course Catalogue, please ensure that you apply the filter to only include CPD-SS courses. 
• When entering your voucher code, please ensure there is no space left at the end. 
• You cannot partially pay for a course using your CPD-SS voucher. Please ensure you have sufficient credits remaining. To find out how many credits you have remaining on your voucher, please contact cpdss@rcpi.ie 
• For any questions or issues in booking a course, please contact cpdss@rcpi.ie for further assistance.

• CPD-SS participants can only use their CPD-SS credits to register for approved courses. If a course is not covered by CPD-SS, you would be required to pay the associated fee.
• Please note that we may occasionally offer our CPD-SS participants opportunities to enrol into non CPD-SS courses throughout the year, depending on eligibility, relevance and availability. Availability to register for these courses will be announced on the CPD-SS Hub.

• NCHD courses cover the exact same content and carry the same CPD (Continuous Professional Development) value as the BST/HST versions.  
• NCHD courses are run with CPD-SS participants in mind, to allow them to access mandatory courses despite not being on a specialist training programme.