The 2026 CPD year is underway, and you open myCPD expecting to check your progress. And then, there they are: two numbers that have not moved since January.

Reviewing Performance: 0

Measuring Outcomes: 0

You wonder how it is even possible when you have spent hours learning new medical innovations this year.

GPs work hard all day and all week, whether they set out to or not. From a pharma rep visit to discuss a new drug to a specialist-GP conference to discuss the new treatment plan, there is something happening every time you step away from your desk (or sometimes just look at the screen).

 

The catch is often not the hours spent, but how they are shaped. Are you spending all your hours ‘learning’ and not analysing them? Are you putting in enough EA but never getting around to measuring anything?

That’s why it’s essential to understand how they are shaped and how we can measure the right distributions all along (so we don’t end up surprised in December, when it's late).

RACGP CPD requirements 2026: How the 50-hours are structured

 

Everyone understands the requirement of fifty hours a year (from the 1st of January to the 31st of December). The professional development plan was written at the start of it; yes, we have ticked that box too. The problem is not fifty hours; it is that the 50 do not come as one pile.

The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) CPD requirements group activities into three categories:

 

That middle bucket of MO + RP is what surprises most people. At least 25 hours must come from Reviewing Performance and Measuring Outcomes combined, with a minimum of 5 hours in each category.

Additionally, there are three themes that sit inside the 50 hours of CPD:

Culturally safe practice

Health inequities

Professionalism and ethical practice  

These are the programme-level requirements, and the wording is important. You need at least one activity relevant to each of the three above-mentioned themes every year. They are not extra hours, but they sit well within the 50-hours benchmark.

You are probably already earning these hours.

This is the part worth knowing. A lot of what already happens in a normal week counts if you record it at the time.

 

Structured wellbeing work also counts as 'Reviewing Performance'. A peer support group, a debrief, a wellbeing check-in with a colleague, etc., all count if they are reported as genuine reflection rather than just time off. 

Approved activities are categorised and uploaded for you. Everything else is on you. So 'Quick Log' the activity, its type, time spent and things you have learned in myCPD home or the app. It only takes a minute, and these notes come back to you at the end of the year, collated, when you write your next PDP.

There is a second reason to log as you go. Your records must be kept for three years after the end of each cycle, as the Medical Board requires CPD Homes to audit 5% of participants' records each year. You don't need much, just a few things like a completion email, an audit template, meeting minutes, the link to an article you read or a photo of your notes.

Your PDP is not just a box to tick.

Your professional development plan should be in January or as close to the start of the year as possible. Write it then, and the rest of the year gets easier, because everything after it sits under the plan and has a reason behind it. It also helps you address some questions while you still have time to act on them:

What do you want to get better at?

Has your scope shifted?

What feedback have you already had and never done anything with?

What outcome would you like to improve for your patients?

One thing people miss is that when you complete your PDP in myCPD Home, you can claim up to 4 hours of reviewing performance. This can contribute towards your 5-hour RP minimum for the year.

 

CPR counts as an educational activity.

 

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an additional RACGP requirement within the 2026–28 CPD triennium. GPs are required to complete one CPR course during the three-year triennium.

HLTAID009 is the standard unit, and basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) courses that include CPD and meet Australian Resuscitation Council guidelines are accepted too.  

The Medical Board has decided that CPR only counts under educational activities. So your CPR course counts towards the requirement you were always going to meet anyway. The requirement is built into myCPD Home, so you can check where you stand by logging in.

To record it, use the CPR or ALS form under the Log menu in myCPD Home, not in 'Quick Log'. Completion will be recorded in the final year of the triennium, i.e., in 2028.

Another aspect to remember is that if you hold a fellowship with another specialist college, that college may set its own high-level requirements. The exception is FACRRM. If you complete the CPD requirements for that, then you have met with everything asked of a specialist GP.

Make EDUCATION a part of the rhythm.

 

Although the number looks huge, 50 hours a year is just an 'hour a week'. 

Here is a scenario: 

Healthcare engagement platforms and CPD providers can help, but the initiative to set aside an hour in your busy schedule will need to come from you. So instead of searching for learning opportunities when December is approaching, you can set an easier pace by doing your CPD hours alongside your regular work.

 

With one valuable educational session (CPD or self-reported learning) at a time, you can learn something relevant to your practice and patients and in accordance with the CPD plan you wrote at the beginning of the year.

Closing the gap without leaving the clinic

For many GPs, the harder part of the CPD mix can be completing the RP and MO requirements. One way to close it is education that comes to you. It can be accredited or non-accredited sessions run within your practice by specialists, allied health providers and industry partners, picked up during a normal week rather than a weekend spent catching up.

These sessions not only make acquiring CPD simpler but also create a 'connected care network' that brings far more satisfying results and better patient support and care.

 

 

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