Engage/not engaged in the practice of medicine
The Professional Competence Scheme framework distinguishes between practicing and non-practicing doctors and the type of CPD activity they need to undertake.
'Engaged in the practice of medicine' or 'not engaged in the practice of medicine' status will influence how the annual CPD requirements are applied.
What does ‘engaged in the practice of medicine’ mean?
Engagement in the practice of medicine includes any of the following activities:
- Involvement in the act of diagnosing, treating, or managing illnesses and medical conditions, including telemedicine consultation
- Provision of medical advice or education
- Prescription of medications
- Performing medical procedures
- Development of preventative programmes
- Conducting relevant medical research
- Taking any other actions which require medical knowledge and skills
Retired medical practitioners who remain on the IMC register are required to be enrolled on a Professional Competence Scheme and fulfil their statutory duty to maintain professional competence.
There are two scenarios for retired doctors:
- Fully retired – in that the retired practitioner no longer sees patients and is no longer engaged in any activity that requires registration with the IMC.
- Occasionally sees patients or is engaged in activities that require the practitioner to be registered with the IMC (e.g. teaching, tutoring, medico-legal work, professional advisor etc.)
If you are fully retired from practice and wish to maintain your registration you are required to maintain your competence, and you must enrol in the relevant Professional Competence Scheme. In this instance – doctors would select ‘not engaged in the practice of medicine’ as a classification type.
If you are retired but occasionally see patients and/or are involved in academic or medico-legal work, you are obliged to fulfil your statutory duty to maintain professional competence. In this instance – doctors would select ‘engaged in the practice of medicine’ as a classification type.
If you are a fully retired practitioner, you may find it difficult to meet the professional competence requirements as set out by the IMC. Therefore, you may wish to consider voluntarily withdrawing from the register. The current IMC guidelines are available on the Council's website.
Doctors not engaged in the practice of medicine
For a doctor not engaged in the practice of medicine, you must undertake 50 CPD credits (1 hour = 1 CPD credit) allocated as follows:
| CPD category | Required CPD credits |
| Professional Development Plan | up to 5 credits |
| *A mix of practice review activity (audit, quality improvement and/or practice evaluation) or work-based learning activity | minimum of 25 credits |
| Accredited CE activity | minimum of 20 credits |
*Only registered medical practitioners who practice medicine are required to complete 10 hours of practice review activity which includes audit, quality improvement or practice evaluation. Doctors not engaged in the practice of medicine can undertake 25 hours of work-based learning activity.
Doctors engaged in the practice of medicine
For a doctor engage in the practice of medicine, they must undertake 50 CPD credits (1 hour = 1 CPD credit) allocated as follows:
| CPD category | Required CPD credits |
| Professional Development Plan | up to 5 credits |
| One practice review activity – audit, quality improvement and/or practice evaluation | minimum of 10 credits |
| A mix of work-based learning activities | minimum of 15 credits |
| Accredited CE activity | minimum of 20 credits |