UK CPD

Participation is mandatory for all those practising obstetrics and gynaecology or its sub-specialties in a career grade post in the UK, unless arrangements have been made with other professional bodies and these are notified to the RCOG.

Revalidation is now firmly embedded in the UK. Medical revalidation consists of two components: relicensure and recertification. Revalidation is run by the GMC and is based on three components: annual enhanced appraisal; multi-source feedback (peers and patients); and confirmation that the doctor has met the requirements of their CPD programme.

The responsibility for the first two components rest with the employer/Responsible Officer but CPD requirements fall within the remit of the RCOG. Many colleagues will already have moved through the GMC-led process and indeed will now have completed their second re-validation cycle. All practitioners should know their re-validation date. Different trusts have developed different appraisal systems and it pays to become accustomed to the system used by your own organisation.

Many of the web-based services used are slow and clunky so a “leave it until the night before” approach is not recommended!

UK CPD

Useful documents include