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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A healthcare engagement platform helps providers grow GP referrals and specialist referrals by getting in front of the right GP clinics, build referral relationships, and keep GPs informed about services, wait times, events, and clinical updates. It sits alongside the systems your clinic already runs, connecting into practice software like Best Practice and Halo rather than replacing them, and it can deliver CPD at the same time. Its real value is simple. It helps turn cold outreach into structured healthcare engagement.

For many specialists, allied health providers, pathology groups, radiology providers, hospitals, and pharma teams, referral growth still depends on phone calls, emails, drop-ins, lunch meetings, and whoever already knows them.

That works until it doesn't.

A GP may not know your psychology team has availability this month. A practice manager may ignore another email because the clinic inbox is already full. A medical rep may spend half a day driving between clinics and still not secure one useful conversation.

That is the problem a healthcare engagement platform solves.

What Does a Healthcare Engagement Platform Do?

 

A healthcare engagement platform provides healthcare organisations with a structured way to connect with GP clinics and other healthcare professionals.

The focus is not just sending referrals from one provider to another. It is about building the relationships that make referral activity more consistent in the first place.

That might mean a physiotherapy clinic booking time with local practices to explain its post-surgical rehab program. It might mean a cardiologist sharing updated referral criteria with GPs. It might mean pharma teams booking approved clinic visits instead of just turning up at reception and hoping someone is free.

 

The platform gives both sides more control.

Providers can organise their engagement, promote their services, share updates, and track their activity. Clinics can set dedicated times, approve requests, manage visitors, and reduce interruptions at the front desk.

Why GP Referrals Dry Up: The Visibility Problem

 

Most referral problems are visibility problems.

A provider can have strong clinicians, excellent outcomes, and open appointment slots, but that doesn't mean local GPs know what's available.

Take a psychology practice that adds three new clinicians. The team now has capacity for twenty new patients a week, but nearby GPs still think the books are closed because nobody has told them otherwise.

Or think about a radiology group opening a new imaging location. If local clinics don't know the service is available, patients may keep referring elsewhere out of habit.

The same issue affects specialists, allied health providers, pathology groups, hospitals, and pharma teams.

Emails are buried. Calls are missed. Reception teams are busy. Walk-in visits interrupt patient flow. Follow-up is inconsistent.

No one is trying to make it hard. The system is just messy.

A healthcare engagement platform replaces that messy process with scheduled, clinic-approved interaction.

How This Fits Alongside Best Practice and Halo

 

Because it connects into the practice software clinics already run—Best Practice and Halo on the GP side, and Cliniko and Nookal for many specialist and allied health practices—a healthcare engagement platform can help providers get more organised about how they build relationships with referrers, without adding a separate system for practice managers to learn. For specialists and allied health providers in particular, that means engagement, availability, and referral activity can sit alongside the system your own practice already runs day to day.

Instead of relying on one-off conversations or old contact lists, teams can plan outreach around real clinical and commercial priorities.

For example, a specialist group might want to educate local GPs on when to refer patients for a particular condition. An allied health provider may want to keep practices updated on availability for physiotherapy, psychology, dietetics, or occupational therapy. A pathology provider may need to introduce a new service, collection centre, or process change.

The right platform helps those messages reach the right clinics in a more structured way.

It also helps field teams and business development teams use their time better. They can see where engagement is happening, where gaps exist, and which clinics need follow-up.

 

That matters when a team is covering a large territory across Australia.

Why This Isn’t Referral Management Software

It’s worth being clear about what RxTro is not. It is not a patient referral platform for routeing individual referrals between providers, and it is not referral management software for triaging incoming referrals internally.

If that’s what you need, look for a tool built for that job. RxTro sits earlier in the relationship — it’s the engagement layer that helps clinics and providers build the connection that leads to a referral in the first place, and it does that alongside the systems your clinic already runs.

Built Around CPD, Best Practice and Halo, and Practice Manager Workflow

 

For practice managers—the people who actually decide who gets time with a clinic—a healthcare engagement platform earns its place by solving three concrete problems: delivering GP CPD, connecting cleanly into the practice software your clinic already runs, and giving you control over rep visits and front-desk interruptions.

CPD is the clearest example. GPs need to meet RACGP CPD requirements every year, and a platform that delivers relevant, accredited education directly to your clinic gives GPs a real reason to engage — not just another vendor asking for time.

RxTro also connects with Best Practice and Halo, the systems that most Australian clinics already use day to day. It doesn’t ask your practice to change how it operates. It sits alongside your existing workflow so engagement, CPD, and visitor activity show up where your team already looks.

And then there’s the everyday reality of managing clinic visitors: reps turning up unannounced, front-desk interruptions, and no consistent way to manage rep visits across a busy day. A structured booking system gives practice managers control over who visits, when, and how much disruption it causes — while still giving genuine providers a fair chance to get time on the calendar.

 

Why Referral Relationships Still Matter

 

GPs don't always refer to the provider with the best website or the flashiest brochure.

They refer to providers they know, trust, and remember at the right moment.

That trust is built over time.

A GP may be more likely to refer to a psychologist if they know the practice has capacity, accepts certain patient types, and communicates clearly after appointments. A GP may be more comfortable referring to a cardiologist if they understand the referral criteria and know patients will be seen within a reasonable timeframe.

Small details matter, including current wait times and new clinicians.

Current wait times. New clinicians. Special interests. Accepted funding types. Locations. Referral processes. Event invitations. CPD-style education.

If those details are not shared regularly, referral decisions often default to habit.

A healthcare engagement platform provides providers a way to stay present without relying on random contacts.

What Features Should You Look For?

The right healthcare engagement platform should support both access and workflow.

Look for tools that help providers book meetings with GP clinics, promote educational sessions, share service updates, manage clinic engagement, and review activity over time.

Clinic control is also important.

GP practices don't want more disruption. They want useful engagement at times that suit the clinic. A good platform should allow clinics to manage availability, approve visitors, and reduce ad hoc interruptions.

For healthcare organisations, reporting is also important. If your team is investing time in GP engagement, you need to know which clinics have been contacted, what activity has happened, and where follow-up is needed.

Integration can also make a difference. Healthcare teams already work across calendars, CRM systems, practice management tools, email, and reporting platforms. The more connected the workflow is, the easier it is to keep activity moving.

Healthcare organisations looking to improve referral quality and collaboration can also benefit from guidance published by the Australian Digital Health Agency.

How RxTro Helps You Grow GP Referrals

RxTro helps healthcare organisations connect with GP clinics through scheduled professional interactions across Australia.

It is built for the real work of healthcare engagement. Booking meetings. Sharing clinical updates. Promoting healthcare events. Delivering CPD-style education. Managing product or service updates. Building stronger referral pathways with clinics that actually have time set aside for engagement.

For clinics, RxTro helps reduce disruption by giving practice managers control over who visits, when, and on what terms — every interaction is clinic-approved, not walk-in.

For specialists and allied health providers, it creates a more organised way to stay visible to GPs and discuss patient pathways, service availability, and referral criteria.

For pharma teams, it helps replace unplanned visits and cold outreach with booked clinic access and more measurable field activity.

RxTro connects healthcare providers across Australia, including GP clinics, GPs, specialists, allied health providers, pharma, hospitals, pathology, radiology, and other healthcare visitors.

The point is not just more contact. It is better contact.

Final Thoughts

Referral growth usually comes from consistent visibility, clear communication, and trusted relationships.

A healthcare engagement platform gives providers a practical way to manage that work. It helps replace missed calls, ignored emails, and unplanned visits with scheduled engagement that works better for both healthcare organisations and GP clinics.

If your team wants to build stronger referral pathways, improve GP clinic engagement, and create more predictable healthcare relationships across Australia, create an account and explore how RxTro can help you connect with the right providers at the right time.

 

Many psychologists want to increase psychology referrals, but the reality is that good clinical outcomes alone don't guarantee referral growth. If you're looking for more GP referrals for psychologists, considering a psychologist referral platform, or trying to get more psychology referrals, the greatest challenge is usually visibility.

A GP can't refer to a psychologist they haven't thought about in six months.

This happens every day.

A patient presents with anxiety, ADHD symptoms, burnout, trauma, or depression. The GP needs to make a referral quickly. They usually choose someone they know, someone they've heard from recently, or someone whose availability they understand.

If your practice isn't visible at that moment, the referral often goes elsewhere.

Why Good Psychologists Miss Out on Referrals

Most psychologists don't lose referrals because of poor clinical work.

They lose referrals because referral relationships naturally fade over time.

A GP may refer three or four patients to your practice after an initial introduction. Then the referrals stop.

Often, nothing has gone wrong.

The GP may assume you're fully booked. They may not know you've added another clinician. They may be unaware that you now offer telehealth appointments or adult ADHD assessments. They may simply have become more familiar with another provider who recently engaged with their clinic.

Referral decisions often depend on the information available at the time.

What GPs Need Before They Refer

Many psychologists spend time promoting qualifications, registrations, and treatment approaches.

Those things matter. But they're usually not the first questions a GP asks.

In practice, most GPs want to know:

Can this psychologist see my patient soon?
What conditions do they specialise in?
Do they accept Mental Health Care Plan referrals?
Do they offer telehealth?
Will they communicate back to me appropriately?

Imagine two psychologists.

The first has a four-month waiting list and specialises in general presentations.

The second can see new patients within two weeks and specialises in adult ADHD assessments.

If a GP has a patient requiring an ADHD assessment next week, the referral decision becomes straightforward.

The easier you make that decision, the more likely you are to receive referrals.

 

How to Increase Psychology Referrals Through Specialisation

One of the most effective ways to increase psychology referrals is to clearly communicate what you do best.

Many psychologists try to appeal to everyone.

The practices receiving strong referral volumes often do the opposite.

They become known for specific areas.

That could be:

Adult ADHD assessments.
Workplace stress and burnout.
Trauma and PTSD.
Perinatal mental health.
Eating disorders.
Youth mental health.

For example, a GP may only refer one or two patients each month for ADHD assessment. If your clinic is recognised locally for that service, you're more likely to receive those referrals than a generalist provider.

Specialisation gives GPs confidence. It removes uncertainty from the referral process.

Why Traditional Referral Marketing Often Falls Short

Most psychologists have tried some form of referral outreach.

A few clinic visits. Some emails. Perhaps a brochure drop.

The problem is that these activities are usually inconsistent.

A psychologist might visit a clinic once, have a good conversation, then wait another year before engaging again.

Meanwhile, other providers continue building relationships.

A physiotherapy practice may run educational sessions. A psychiatrist may host a case discussion. Another psychology clinic may provide regular updates on appointment availability.

Over time, those repeated touchpoints make a difference.

It's not that the providers are better clinicians.

Because they easier to remember.

The Role of GP Engagement in Referral Growth

The strongest referral relationships are usually built through ongoing professional interaction.

That doesn't mean repeatedly selling your services.

It means creating opportunities for meaningful conversations.

For example:

• Discussing referral options for patients experiencing burnout.
• Sharing updates about new ADHD assessment pathways.
• Providing education around trauma treatment approaches.
• Explaining how quickly new Mental Health Care Plan referrals can be accommodated.

These conversations help GPs understand where your practice fits within patient care pathways.

The more familiar they become with your services, the easier referral decisions become.

How Structured GP Engagement Helps

A structured GP engagement approach gives GPs a consistent way to get to know your practice and build referral relationships over time.

Instead of relying on cold visits or hoping a receptionist passes on your information, psychologists can engage with clinics through scheduled interactions.

This is where many practices see a significant difference.

A booked meeting with a GP clinic is very different from showing up unannounced.

The clinic has allocated time. The conversation is expected.

You can discuss referral pathways, patient suitability, wait times, new services, and appointment availability without disrupting clinic operations.

That creates a better experience for both the clinic and the psychologist.

Building More GP Referrals for Psychologists

GP referrals for psychologists tend to increase when three things are clear.

Visibility supports all three.

For example, if a local clinic knows your practice currently has appointments available for anxiety, depression, and trauma patients, those referrals become easier to make.

If they know you've recently expanded your telehealth capacity, referrals from regional patients become more likely.

If they know you provide detailed feedback after assessments, confidence in future referrals grows.

These are practical factors that influence referral behaviour every week.

How to Get More Psychology Referrals Without Relying on Cold Outreach

If referral growth depends entirely on occasional networking events or random clinic visits, results are difficult to predict.

A better approach is to build a repeatable system.

That may include scheduled GP meetings, educational CPD programs, referral pathway discussions, CPD events, appointment availability updates, and ongoing clinic engagement.

The goal isn't constant promotion.

The goal is remaining professionally visible.

Many referrals are won because a GP remembers a recent conversation, educational session, or update from a provider.

Practices that consistently create those opportunities are usually the ones that get more psychology referrals over time.

Strong Referral Pathways Are Built Over Time

Most referral growth happens gradually.

A single clinic meeting may generate one referral.

Several productive GP relationships can generate dozens over the course of a year.

The psychologists who consistently build referral pathways are rarely doing anything complicated. They're making it easy for GPs to understand their services, availability, and areas of expertise.

If you are looking to increase psychology referrals, strengthen GP referrals for psychologists, and build relationships with GP clinics across Australia, RxTro provides a structured way to do it.

RxTro helps psychologists connect with more than 20,000 GPs and 4,000 GP clinics through scheduled professional interactions, educational opportunities, referral pathway development, and appointment booking tools. Rather than relying on cold outreach, psychologists can build meaningful relationships with clinics that are actively open to engagement.

Explore how RxTro can help your practice stay visible, build stronger referral networks, and reach more patients through structured GP engagement. RxTro is built to support psychology referrals by keeping your practice visible to local GPs — or explore the Primary Care and Schedule pages to learn more.