CPD Requirements for Doctors in Australia (2026 Guide)

If you're a registered medical practitioner in Australia, CPD compliance looks different from most other health professions — and the requirements have changed significantly in recent years.

The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) overhauled its mandatory CPD program in 2023, moving away from the old self-directed model to a structured framework built around CPD homes. If you haven't engaged with your CPD home yet, now is the time.

Here's what every Australian doctor needs to know about CPD requirements in 2026.

What Is the Medical Board of Australia's CPD Program?

The Medical Board of Australia, operating under AHPRA, sets CPD requirements for all registered medical practitioners in Australia — including general practitioners, specialists, non-practising doctors, and those in non-clinical roles.

The key change introduced in 2023 was the CPD home model: rather than reporting CPD directly to AHPRA, doctors now complete their CPD through an MBA-accredited CPD home, which in turn reports compliance to the Medical Board.

This shift was designed to make CPD more meaningful and profession-specific, with CPD homes tailored to the clinical contexts doctors actually work in.

How Many CPD Hours Do Doctors Need?

Under the Medical Board's framework, registered medical practitioners must complete a minimum of 50 hours of CPD per year.

These 50 hours must cover multiple CPD types — you can't simply attend 50 hours of conferences and call it done.

The Three Mandatory CPD Types

The Medical Board requires doctors to complete CPD activities across at least three types each year:

1. Educational activities — Formal learning such as conferences, online courses, journal reading, workshops, and seminars. This includes both face-to-face and online formats.

2. Reviewing performance — Activities that give you insight into your own practice, such as peer review, case discussions, audit of clinical records, multi-source feedback, and mortality and morbidity reviews.

3. Measuring outcomes — Systematic activities that assess the quality of care you provide, including clinical audits, outcome data analysis, participation in registries, and quality improvement projects.

Each CPD home may set minimum hours within each type as part of their accredited program. If you're registered with the RACGP, RACP, RACS, or another college, check your specific college requirements as they may exceed the Medical Board minimum.

What Is a CPD Home?

A CPD home is an MBA-accredited organisation that:

• Provides or accredits CPD activities relevant to your scope of practice
• Tracks your CPD completion over the year
• Reports your compliance status to the Medical Board of Australia at the end of each CPD year
• Supports you through audit processes if selected

All registered medical practitioners must enrol with an MBA-accredited CPD home and complete CPD through that home each year.

Who Can Be Your CPD Home?

CPD homes include:

• Specialist medical colleges (RACGP, RACP, RACS, RANZCOG, RACRRM, and others) — most specialists will use their relevant college
• Medical associations and societies with accredited CPD programs
• Other MBA-accredited organisations where no college exists for your specialty

If you are a general practitioner, your CPD home is almost certainly the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). The RACGP CPD program operates on an annual basis with its own specific activity requirements that align with — and expand on — the Medical Board's minimum framework.

If you practise across multiple specialties, you register with one CPD home that covers your primary practice area.

What If You Have No Relevant College?

Some doctors — particularly those in non-clinical, administrative, or research roles — may not have an obvious college to join as a CPD home. The Medical Board maintains a list of accredited CPD homes beyond the traditional specialty colleges. Check the AHPRA website for the current list of accredited CPD homes.

When Is the CPD Year?

The CPD year for medical practitioners runs from 1 November to 31 October annually. This aligns with the AHPRA medical registration renewal window, which typically opens in October.

You'll need to confirm your CPD compliance through your CPD home before your registration renewal each year.

What Activities Count as CPD?

Under the Medical Board's framework, a wide range of professional learning activities count towards your 50 hours — provided they are relevant to your scope of practice and fall within the recognised CPD types.

Educational Activities (examples)

• Attending medical conferences and seminars
• Completing online learning modules or courses
• Reading peer-reviewed journals and medical literature
• Attending grand rounds or hospital education sessions
• Completing simulation-based training
• Undertaking postgraduate study or research

Reviewing Performance (examples)

• Peer review of clinical records or cases
• Participating in multi-source feedback (360° feedback)
• Clinical supervision or being supervised
• Mortality and morbidity meetings
• Case discussion with colleagues
• Personal practice audit

Measuring Outcomes (examples)

• Formal clinical audit with data analysis
• Participation in clinical quality registries
• Outcome benchmarking
• Quality improvement projects (QI)
• Participation in incident review processes

Other Activities

Your CPD home may also recognise teaching, supervision of trainees, mentoring, and other professional activities. Check with your specific CPD home for what they recognise.

The RACGP CPD Program for GPs

General practitioners registered with the RACGP have one of the most structured CPD programs in Australian medicine. While the details can change, RACGP CPD requirements generally include:

• 50 CPD hours per year in line with the Medical Board framework
• Activities must span multiple CPD types
• A portion must be interactive (attending events, case discussions, etc.) rather than purely self-directed reading
• RACGP tracks completion and reports to the Medical Board

The RACGP's MyCPD platform is the primary tool GPs use to log activities. However, many GPs find that logging activities across multiple systems — their RACGP account, hospital systems, and external course providers — leads to fragmentation and missed hours.

CPD for Doctors Not in Clinical Practice

A common misconception is that CPD is only required if you're seeing patients. This is not the case.

The Medical Board requires all registered medical practitioners to complete CPD, including those in:

• Medical administration and leadership
• Public health roles
• Research and academia
• Government and policy
• Medical education

If you hold general or specialist registration — even if you don't practise clinically — you must complete 50 hours per year through a CPD home, or obtain a formal exemption.

The only exception is doctors who hold non-practising registration, who are exempt from CPD requirements (but are also legally unable to practise medicine in Australia).

What Happens During a CPD Audit?

The Medical Board conducts random audits of CPD compliance. If selected, you'll be required to provide evidence that you completed the required 50 hours across the required CPD types during the audit period.

Evidence typically includes:

• Certificates of completion from courses, conferences, or online modules
• Records from your CPD home showing logged activities and hour counts
• Documentation of peer review or audit activities, such as meeting notes or audit summaries
• Registration records showing participation in relevant programs or registries

Doctors who cannot demonstrate compliance risk having conditions placed on their registration or facing disciplinary action.

Why Paper Records Create Problems

Many doctors fall into the habit of collecting certificates and notes and filing them somewhere "safe" — only to discover, during audit preparation, that they can't find key documents, have lost track of hours across different providers, or have evidence spread across email inboxes, folders, and printed files.

A structured CPD log maintained throughout the year is far easier to audit than a pile of certificates assembled in a hurry.

Common CPD Mistakes Doctors Make

1. Logging only educational activities

It's easy to default to conferences and courses for all your CPD hours. But the Medical Board requires CPD across multiple types — and if you can't demonstrate reviewing performance and measuring outcomes, you won't meet the requirements even if you have 50 hours of conference attendance.

2. Assuming your college handles everything

Your CPD home will report your compliance to the Medical Board, but they can only report what you've recorded with them. Activities you complete but don't log — journal reading, peer discussions, informal case reviews — may not be captured.

3. Not keeping your own records

Even if your CPD home maintains records on your behalf, you should keep your own log. CPD home systems can change, data can be lost, and if you switch homes, historical records may not transfer cleanly.

4. Leaving it all to the end of year

Fifty hours spread across a year is manageable — around an hour per week. Fifty hours compressed into the last two months of the CPD year is stressful, expensive, and leads to box-ticking rather than genuine learning.

5. Failing to document informal activities

Peer discussions, journal club, grand rounds attendance, and informal case review with colleagues all count as CPD — but only if you document them. Many doctors complete far more than 50 hours of legitimate CPD activity but don't log it systematically, leaving them scrambling to prove compliance.

How to Track CPD as a Doctor

Given the complexity of medical CPD — 50 hours, multiple types, CPD home reporting, potential audits — a structured approach to tracking is essential.

Option 1: Your CPD Home's Platform

Most CPD homes provide a logging platform (the RACGP's MyCPD, for example). These are tied directly to your compliance reporting, so activities logged here count toward your annual requirement. The limitation is that they may only capture activities delivered or accredited by your home.

Option 2: Spreadsheet

A simple spreadsheet can work for organised practitioners, but creates its own challenges: manual entry errors, no reminders, difficulty generating audit reports, and fragility (what happens if the file is lost or corrupted?).

Option 3: Dedicated CPD Tracker

A purpose-built CPD tracker like CPDKeep lets you log activities from any provider, track hours against your annual target, set reminders, and generate an audit-ready report whenever you need one.

CPDKeep is particularly useful for doctors who:

• Complete CPD activities through multiple providers or venues
• Want a single source of truth for all CPD records
• Need to generate an audit report quickly
• Want automated reminders when they're falling behind on hours

You can try CPDKeep for free and see how it simplifies your CPD log.

Key Dates and Registration Renewal

Australian medical registration renewal typically occurs annually in November. The Medical Board will ask you to confirm CPD compliance as part of the renewal process — confirmation that your CPD home has marked you as compliant for the year.

Key dates to be aware of:

• CPD year: 1 November – 31 October
• Registration renewal: typically opens October/November
• CPD home reporting deadline: check with your CPD home, but generally before the registration renewal window closes

Missing the CPD home's reporting deadline means they may not have time to update your compliance status before renewal — which creates complications.

Summary: What Doctors Need to Do

1. Enrol with a CPD home if you haven't already (check the AHPRA website for accredited homes)
2. Complete 50 CPD hours per year across multiple activity types
3. Log activities through your CPD home as you complete them — don't wait until year end
4. Keep your own records regardless of what your CPD home tracks
5. Review your compliance status mid-year to identify any gaps
6. Renew your registration on time, with CPD compliance confirmed

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many CPD hours do doctors need in Australia?

Registered medical practitioners must complete 50 CPD hours per year under the Medical Board of Australia's mandatory CPD program. These hours must span multiple CPD types including educational activities, reviewing performance, and measuring outcomes.

What is a CPD home for doctors?

A CPD home is an MBA-accredited organisation — typically a specialist medical college or medical association — that doctors enrol with to complete and record their CPD. The CPD home reports compliance to the Medical Board of Australia.

Do non-clinical doctors still need to do CPD?

Yes. All registered medical practitioners, including those in non-clinical roles such as administration, research, or public health, must complete CPD unless they hold non-practising registration.

What happens if a doctor doesn't complete their CPD?

Failure to meet CPD requirements can result in conditions on your registration or referral to the Medical Board for disciplinary action. If selected for audit and unable to demonstrate compliance, the consequences can be serious.

Can I use CPDKeep to track my CPD as a doctor?

Yes. CPDKeep lets you log CPD activities from any provider, track hours across multiple CPD types, set reminders, and generate an audit-ready report. It's designed to complement — not replace — your CPD home's system, giving you a complete personal record of all your CPD activity.

Does reading medical journals count as CPD?

Yes — journal reading counts as an educational activity under the Medical Board's framework. Log the time spent reading and the topics covered. Most CPD homes accept self-directed reading with a brief reflection or note about what you learned.

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CPD requirements can change. Always verify current requirements with the Medical Board of Australia and your CPD home. This article reflects requirements as understood in mid-2026.