A Although it’s not compulsory to complete a Personal Development Plan, we recommend that you do so. Creating a Personal Development Plan encourages you to define your practice, identify CPD and Clinical (Practice) Audit activities appropriate for you, and set out goals for your personal development. It can also be used to reflect on and monitor your progress. If you complete the Personal Development Plan form we have provided for you in your ePortfolio for Professional Competence by 30 September,  you may claim 5 credits in the Internal CPD category. Visit: Why create a personal development plan

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Professional Competence requires that you conduct at least one Audit or Quality Improvement project every year.

It is important to remember that Clinical (Practice) Audit is not the same as CPD - it is  a separate Professional Competence requirement.  To meet this requirement, you must complete one audit or quality improvement project about an aspect of your own practice every year.  This Medical Council requirement is not limited to doctors working in a hospital setting.

It is recommended that you spend at least 12 hours per year on your audit or quality improvement project.

Visit: What you need to know about audit

A There are four CPD categories:

1. Personal Learning
2. External CPD
3. Internal CPD
4. Research or Teaching

For three of these categories you must record a minimum number of CPD credits each year:

• Personal Learning – At least 5 CPD credits per year. No evidence is required for this category
• External - At least 20 CPD credits per year. Evidence of your participation is required. See Evidence for External CPD and Sample Template for External CPD 
• Internal - At least 20 CPD credits per year. Evidence of your participation is required. See Evidence for Internal CPD and Sample Template for Internal CPD

In the category Research or Teaching it is desirable, but not mandatory, to record 2 CPD credits per year. Evidence of your participation is required. See Evidence for Research or Teaching You must record a total of 50 CPD credits every year. The 50 credits must include the minimum requirements from the External, Internal and Personal Learning categories. Visit:  CPD Explained

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The Medical Council’s eight Domains of Good Professional Practice set out the principles on which good practice is founded. 

1. Patient Safety and Quality in Patient Care
2. Relating to Patients
3. Communication and Interpersonal Skills
4. Collaboration and Teamwork
5. Management (including self-management)
6. Scholarship
7. Professionalism
8. Clinical (Professional) Skills

Together, these principles describe medical professionalism in action.

Doctors are best placed to choose the activities that reflect their educational needs and will be expected to make a judgement on the value of a particular activity based on their scope of practice. They are expected to map their activities against the relevant Domain of Good Professional Practice and ensure that the activities undertaken during the course of a five year cycle encompasses all eight domains.

We recommend that you aim to assign all eight domains every year. When recording your activities in ePortfolio for Professional Competence, you have the option to assign up to three domains at a time.

Visit:  About the 8 Domains of Good Professional Practice

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The Professional Competence year runs between 1 May and 30 April every year.

To facilitate doctors who attend activities in the last few days before 30 April, we always allow a short "grace period" after 30 April to give time for last-minute activities to be recorded before ePortfolio is closed to generate Annual Statements of Participation.

Help us help you!

It's all too easy to leave adding information and documents to your ePortfolio to the last minute. To make sure that we have time to help you with any potential problems before the Professional Competence year end, please try to record your CPD and audit claims regularly, and contact us straight away if you need help.

If you have difficulty in assigning categories to your Professional Competence activities or have any questions relating to your Professional Competence Scheme, please contact the RCPI Professional Competence Department, which is open Monday to Friday 09:00 – 17:00 GMT at + 353 1 863 9739 or professionalcompetence@rcpi.ie.

If you have forgotten your password and need help logging in to your ePortfolio, please contact the RCPI Helpdesk, which is open Monday to Friday 09:00 – 17:00 GMT on Free phone 1800 303 574 (ROI only) or +353 1 863 9721 or helpdesk@rcpi.ie

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As you know, all doctors on the Specialist, General or Supervised Division of the Medical Council Register are required by law to be enrolled on a Professional Competence Scheme and record sufficient CPD and Clinical (Practice) Audit claims to meet their scheme requirements.

The Medical Council requires all doctors to pay their Professional Competence renewal fee before renewing their Medical Council Registration. They must enter the name of their Professional Competence Scheme and the date they paid their renewal fee on their Annual Retention form.

Absent from practice?

If you hold Supervised, General or Specialist registration with the Irish Medical Council, absence from practice does not in itself exempt you from engagement with Professional Competence, so it is important that you renew your enrolment every year.

Change of Status?

If you have moved overseas it is important to be aware of the Irish Medical Council advice on this topic.

To change your Professional Competence Scheme status, we need your written instructions. If your Medical Council registration status has changed (e.g. you have changed your Medical Council registration type, retired from the Medical Council Register, entered a training programme or moved abroad), please let us know immediately by emailing professionalcompetence@rcpi.ie or by writing to:

Professional Competence Department
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
Frederick House
19 South Frederick Street
Dublin 2

Visit:  Renew your enrolment