Probity for Healthcare Professionals
CPD-AccreditedCertified byThe CPD Certification Service, UK
Remediation · All UK healthcare regulators CPD Certified
Probity for Healthcare Professionals
A CPD-certified remediation course for Doctors, Dentists, Nurses, Midwives,
Pharmacists and all other Healthcare Professionals
facing a probity or honesty allegation, a complaint, or a fitness to practice investigation
with the GMC, GDC, NMC, GPhC, HCPC, GOC, GCC, GOsC or Social Work England. Covers records, money,
declarations and conflicts of interest — and how to evidence the insight, reflection and remediation
your regulator is looking for.
Bulk buy — any 10 courses
Instant access · certificate on completion · CPD certified
Who this course is for
For healthcare professionals facing an investigation, a complaint, a fitness to practice
process or an allegation of misconduct touching honesty — and for anyone who needs to evidence
remediation. Probity is common to every regulator’s standards, so
unlike most of our courses this one is not written to a single code.
The letter uses the word probity
Or honesty, or integrity, or dishonesty. Those words signal the most serious category your regulator
has, and the response needs to be built differently from a clinical one.
You are under fitness to practice investigation
A case is open with the GMC, GDC, NMC, GPhC, HCPC, GOC, GCC, GOsC or Social Work England, and you need
documented CPD and written reflection to put behind your response.
A record or a claim is in question
An entry written after the fact, a form, a declaration, a CV, a timesheet, an insurance claim. Most
probity cases start somewhere this ordinary.
Nothing has been raised
You want to understand where the line actually sits on declarations, conflicts and record corrections
— before anyone asks.
The concerns this course speaks to
Probity allegations have a recognisable shape, and most begin somewhere unremarkable.
Records and retrospective entries
Notes written later, corrections that are not clearly identified as corrections, and entries recording
things that did not happen in the form recorded.
Financial integrity
Claims, invoicing, timesheets, private fees, and payments or inducements that could look like they
influenced a clinical decision.
Declarations and disclosures
What you must tell your regulator and when — cautions, charges, findings by another body,
restrictions imposed by an employer — and the separate concern of not telling them.
Conflicts of interest
Interests that were not declared, or were declared but not managed, and referral or prescribing
decisions that could be read as influenced by them.
Claims about yourself
CVs, job applications, titles, qualifications, and how you describe your services and results in
advertising.
Academic and research honesty
Authorship, data, and the reflective writing itself — a reflection that overstates is a probity
problem of its own.
What the course covers
Six sections and 16 lessons, with a reflective quiz closing each of the first five sections and a
post-course assessment at the finish.
Overview of probity
What probity is, its legal, ethical and professional dimensions, and how it applies across different healthcare settings.
Why probity matters
Why it is essential, and why regulators treat concerns about it differently from concerns about clinical performance.
Core aspects of professional probity
Five lessons: truthfulness in documentation and communication, financial integrity, academic honesty and research conduct, transparency in clinical care, and managing declarations and disclosures.
Regulatory expectations and standards
The guidance issued by healthcare regulators, and how they assess a breach of probity once one is alleged.
Insight, reflection and remediation
Four lessons: developing detailed insight into past actions, reflective writing that learns rather than excuses, remediation strategies, and demonstrating that trustworthiness has been restored.
Conclusion and assessment
Key takeaways, followed by a post-course assessment. Your certificate is issued on completion.
How this helps if a concern has been raised
In a probity case, the reflection carries the weight — not the certificate
The GMC puts it plainly in its revalidation guidance: probity is at the heart of professionalism
and means being honest and trustworthy and acting with integrity. Every other UK healthcare
regulator says a version of the same thing. That is why an allegation here is not treated like a clinical
one: competence can be retrained and the risk seen to fall, but trust has to be rebuilt, and a panel has
only your account and your conduct to judge it by.
It also means the shape of a good response is different. A clinical reflection explains what went wrong and
what has been put in place. A probity reflection has to do something harder: acknowledge the conduct fully
and without qualification, explain why it happened in a way that stops short of excusing it, and show change
sustained over time. Partial admissions and continued minimisation are what most often make the
outcome worse — more often than the original conduct did.
On completion you receive a certificate recording the course title, the CPD hours and the date —
which, with your own written reflection, is suitable for inclusion in a remediation
portfolio, an appraisal folder, a revalidation submission or a response to your regulator. For
courses written to your own regulator’s standards, see courses by regulator.
Read the standards yourself
GMC: Trust and professionalism ↗
HCPC: Be honest and trustworthy ↗
GCC: Code of Professional Practice ↗
Ready to start?
Any UK registered healthcare professional. Instant access, 2 CPD hours, certificate on completion.
Who wrote it
Course facilitator and author, Probity & Ethics
Dr Iqbal has designed and delivered ethics, probity and professionalism training for UK healthcare
professionals since 2020, working with registrants of all nine UK healthcare regulators, online and face
to face. He combines clinical practice with formal postgraduate training in healthcare law and
ethics.
MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and
Ethics, University of Dundee
Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed .
What does probity mean, and why does a regulator care?
Probity means being honest and trustworthy and acting with integrity. That is the GMC’s own wording,
and every other UK healthcare regulator sets a version of the same expectation. In practice it covers what
you write in records, what you claim about yourself, how you handle money and declarations, and whether you
are straight with your regulator and your employer.
Regulators treat probity concerns as their most serious category because they go to trust rather
than competence. A clinical gap can be closed with training and audit, and a panel can see the risk
fall. Trust has to be rebuilt, and the only evidence of that is your account and your conduct since —
which is why the written reflection carries more weight here than the certificate does.
Why a probity response has to be written differently
A clinical concern and a probity concern are not answered the same way, and using the clinical
shape for a probity allegation is the most common mistake registrants make.
It is judged on conduct, not intention
Your standards set honesty and integrity as a standard of behaviour. A panel looks at what you did and
what you knew at the time, and asks whether that met the standard — not whether you felt you were
being honest.
It goes to trust, not competence
A clinical gap can be closed with training, supervision and audit, and a panel can see the risk fall.
Trust has to be rebuilt, and the only evidence of that is your account and your conduct since.
Qualified admissions make it worse
“I accept it looked that way, but…” reads as a defence rather than insight. Full
acknowledgement first, explanation second, and never explanation in place of acknowledgement.
Where probity sits in your own standards
Every regulator has the same expectation under a different heading. Find yours and cite it by
number — a response written against the clause actually engaged reads very differently from one written
in general terms.
GMC
Good medical practice, Domain 4: Trust and professionalism —
acting with honesty and integrity, paragraphs 81–101.
HCPC
Standards of conduct, performance and ethics, Standard 9:
Be honest and trustworthy.
GCC
Code of Professional Practice, Principle C: act with honesty and integrity
and maintain the highest standards of professional and personal conduct.
Your own regulator
The NMC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and Social Work England all
carry an equivalent. Look it up before you write, and quote the clause.
What these words mean
The terms a regulator will use about a probity concern, and what each one means in practice.
Probity
Being honest and trustworthy and acting with integrity. It covers records, claims about yourself, money and declarations, and openness with your regulator and employer — a wider idea than simply not lying.
Integrity
Acting consistently with professional standards whether or not anyone is checking, and being willing to justify a decision on its merits. Regulators treat it as inseparable from honesty.
Declaration
Telling your regulator, promptly, about matters they require to know — a caution or charge, a finding by another body, or a restriction imposed by an employer. Failing to declare is usually treated as a separate concern from the matter itself.
Conflict of interest
Any personal, financial or other interest that could influence, or appear to influence, a professional judgement. The expectation is to declare it and manage it, not simply to feel unaffected by it.
Insight
Understanding what went wrong, why it happened, and the effect it had on patients, colleagues and public confidence. In a probity case it means acknowledging the conduct without qualifying it.
Remediation
The concrete steps taken so the same thing does not happen again — training, supervision, changes to how you work — together with evidence that they happened and have been sustained.
Frequently asked questions
What does probity mean for a healthcare professional?
Being honest and trustworthy and acting with integrity — the GMC’s own phrasing in its revalidation guidance, which adds that probity is at the heart of professionalism. In practice it covers what you write in records, what you claim about yourself, how you handle money and declarations, and whether you are straight with your regulator and your employer. It is a wider idea than simply not lying.
Which professions is this remediation course for?
All UK registered healthcare professionals. It is written for doctors regulated by the GMC, dentists and the dental team regulated by the GDC, nurses, midwives and nursing associates regulated by the NMC, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians regulated by the GPhC, HCPC-registered professionals including paramedics, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers and practitioner psychologists, optometrists and dispensing opticians regulated by the GOC, chiropractors regulated by the GCC, osteopaths regulated by the GOsC, and social workers. Probity is common to every regulator’s standards, so the course is written to the shared expectation rather than to one code.
How will my regulator look at what I did?
By what you did, not by what you meant. Every regulator’s standards set honesty and integrity as a standard of conduct — something your behaviour either met or did not — rather than as a question about your intentions. A panel will establish what happened and what you knew at the time, then ask whether that conduct met the standard expected of a registered professional. That is why a response built around your intentions tends to land badly, and one built around what you now understand tends to land better.
Is it enough to say I did not mean any harm?
On its own, no. It is worth saying, and it may well be true, but it does not answer the concern. Your standards ask you to be honest and act with integrity, and a panel is assessing whether the conduct met that standard and whether it could happen again. What moves a case is showing that you understand why the conduct fell short, that you can say so without qualifying it, and that something concrete has changed since.
Why is dishonesty treated so much more seriously than a clinical error?
Because it goes to trust rather than competence. A clinical mistake can be trained out; a panel can see supervision, courses and audit and believe the risk has fallen. A probity concern raises the question of whether you can be relied on at all, including in what you tell the regulator about the matter itself. It is harder to evidence change, which is precisely why documented reflection matters more here than anywhere else.
Where does probity sit in my own regulator’s standards?
Every UK healthcare regulator has it, though the wording differs. It is Domain 4 of the GMC’s Good medical practice, Trust and professionalism, at paragraphs 81 to 101. It is Standard 9 of the HCPC’s standards of conduct, performance and ethics, Be honest and trustworthy. It is Principle C of the GCC’s Code of Professional Practice. Find the clause in your own standards and write your response against it by number, not in general terms.
What kinds of allegation count as probity concerns?
Records written after the fact or corrected without being marked as corrections; claims, invoicing, timesheets and private fees; interests that were not declared or were declared but not managed; what you have said about your qualifications, titles or results; failing to tell your regulator about a caution, charge, finding or restriction; and honesty in research, authorship and in reflective writing itself. Most begin somewhere entirely unremarkable.
Can a probity concern be remediated at all?
It is harder than a clinical failing, but regulators do not treat it as impossible. What they look for is a full and unqualified acknowledgement of what happened, an understanding of why it happened that does not shade into excuse, and evidence of changed conduct sustained over time rather than promised. Partial admissions and continued minimisation are what tend to make the outcome worse.
Will completing this course resolve my fitness to practice case?
No. No course, from us or from anyone else, determines the outcome of a fitness to practice matter — and in a probity case the certificate on its own carries very little. What carries weight is the written reflection you attach to it. Your indemnity provider, defence organisation or a specialist regulatory adviser should advise on your own case.
Does this count towards my CPD?
Yes. The course is certified by The CPD Certification Service and issues a dated certificate on completion, so it is verifiable CPD and can be kept with your CPD record. Its purpose here, though, is evidence for a probity concern rather than filling a CPD return.
How long does it take, and can I buy more than one course?
It carries 2 CPD hours across six sections and 16 lessons, with a reflective quiz closing each of the first five sections and a post-course assessment at the end. It is self-paced. Our Bulk Buy offer covers any 10 courses and works out considerably cheaper per course — probity allegations rarely arrive alone, so a bundle is usually the better answer to a real case.
Courses that work alongside this one
Claims, declarations, undisclosed interests and financial conduct that has been questioned.
Being open when something has gone wrong — the failure that most often turns into a probity allegation.
Records, corrections and retrospective entries: where most probity cases actually begin.
The element assessed in almost every case, whatever the allegation, and the one most often described as lacking.
How to write reflection that reads as understanding rather than regret, in your own words.
Turning insight into concrete, evidenced change that a panel can see actually happened.
What fitness to practice means, how the process works, and what is being assessed at each stage.
Restoring confidence after a concern — with patients, with colleagues and with the regulator.
This course. Honesty and integrity in records, money and declarations, how regulators assess a breach,
and the reflection that answers it.
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Instant access on purchase. Certificate on completion, CPD-certified by The CPD Certification Service.
Probity & Ethics is an independent CPD provider. We are not affiliated with, accredited by, or endorsed by any UK healthcare regulator. No course determines the outcome of a fitness to practice case. This course is not legal or regulatory advice — if a concern has been raised about you, speak to your defence organisation, professional body, insurer or a specialist regulatory adviser about your own circumstances.
