CPD is not just a ‘nice to have’: Why everyone in the system should support CPD

Continuing professional development (CPD) and lifelong learning are essential for the development of everyone who works in health and social care and for the experience of service users. Investing in CPD results in confident, competent and current staff.

• Confident: CPD can develop people’s sense of who they are as a professional and lead to improved job satisfaction (Napolitano, F. et al., 2024). It can build people’s confidence and support them through transitions, which has a positive impact on retention (Allen et al, 2019).
• Competent: CPD and lifelong learning support a workforce that is not only safe, but capable of designing, delivering, evaluating and improving high-quality care and services.
• Current: People working in the health and social care workforce operate in a changing, challenging and complex environment. CPD can support the big shifts we need to see in health and social care: from illness to wellness; from hospital to community-based services; and to using technology and data for service improvement.
  
  

However, access to CPD and lifelong learning is not always equitable, and in times of financial constraints and time pressure it is often one of the first things to be squeezed. We know from studies in nursing that lack of funding and time to participate in CPD activities are the greatest barriers for CPD (Mlambo, M., Silén, C. & McGrath, 2021) and we also hear it from other professions. We want to ensure access is available to everyone.

That is why, in 2017 the College of Paramedics convened a meeting of 21 health and social care professional bodies and unions to draft principles outlining what everyone in the system should be doing around CPD and setting out the importance of CPD. The resulting document is called the ‘Principles for CPD and lifelong learning’.

What are the Principles for CPD and lifelong learning?

They are a set of five principles that state what Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and lifelong learning should look like for everyone working in health and social care:

These principles are designed to support access to CPD and lifelong learning and show how everyone has a part to play. They were developed to show what responsibilities around CPD and lifelong learning should look like for individuals, organisations and the wider system, in health and social care.

How should I use the principles?

You should use these principles alongside professional and regulatory standards. They are relevant to everyone who works in health and social care, and we encourage all organisations to follow them.

Using the principles as part of the wider system

It is great news that the major health and care strategies of the four nations of the UK all put a big focus on providing training and development opportunities to ensure staff have the skills and support they need to provide high quality care. The CPD Together group would like to see that followed through with commitment from government, and health care and system leads that CPD and supporting staff is taken into account when commissioning services and calculating staff and employer time and financial resources.

Using the principles as an employer

If you are a service lead please use the principles to support your employees to access the learning and development they need.

Investing in CPD leads to a confident, competent and current workforce: one where employees are more likely to stay and be able to contribute to solutions and be flexible enough to adapt to change.

Employers can improve the impact of CPD with strong leadership and a positive workplace culture (King, R. 2021). Joining in with initiatives such as the HCPC’s CPD Week are a great way to show your intentions. Employers can build in protected time for staff CPD as part of Specified Professional Activities in job plans.

Using the principles as a practitioner

The Principles start with you and your career. Use them to plan your CPD for your career goals and interests and to ensure you keep up to date with safety and regulatory requirements. CPD and lifelong learning are also key elements of practitioner wellbeing at work (Newton, R. 2021) and so are an investment in you. As a practitioner you can use the principles to help you strengthen employer support for CPD, highlighting their role in access to CPD. Combine these with your profession’s development frameworks or career goals that you’re working towards.

Where can I find out more about the Principles?

Find the principles and supporting resources – including a template to record your CPD and reflections, plus videos from professional bodies - in the NHS learning hub: learninghub.nhs.uk/Catalogue/cpdprinciples (You do not need an NHS email to access this.)

Join the conversation online using the hashtag #CPDtogether.

More about CPD Week 2025