An ethics CPD course for UK healthcare professionals: Ethics for Healthcare Professionals is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10), 2 CPD hours, online and self-paced, CPD accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197), with a dated certificate for your CPD record, appraisal or revalidation, and for a complaint, referral or investigation that has raised an ethics question. There is a profession-specific version for doctors, nurses and midwives, the dental team, pharmacists, HCPC registrants, optometrists, chiropractors, osteopaths and social workers, each at the same price and hours. An ethics CPD course is searched for in two situations. You are planning your CPD for the year and want an ethics course that counts towards your record, your appraisal or your revalidation. Or a complaint, a referral or an investigation has raised a question about honesty, consent, confidentiality, a boundary or a decision, and you need to show what you have learned before a case examiner or a committee decides. This guide sets out what an ethics CPD course covers, how CPD hours and records work for each UK regulator (from the regulators’ own pages), how to choose the right course, and how the same course serves both situations.
Facing a concern about ethics?
A complaint, an employer investigation, a letter from your regulator or an interim order that turns on honesty, consent, confidentiality, a boundary with a patient or a colleague, or a clinical decision. You want to show insight and the steps you have taken before the decision is made.
Planning your ethics CPD?
You need CPD you can record and reflect on for your revalidation, your appraisal, your GDC statement, your GPhC records or an HCPC audit, and you want ethics covered properly rather than in passing.
In short
- An ethics CPD course covers the ethical principles behind your regulator’s standards and how they apply to decisions in your practice, with a certificate that records the hours and the date.
- Every UK regulator expects CPD to be recorded and reflected on. The NMC asks for 35 hours in three years; the GDC for 100, 75 or 50 verifiable hours in five years; the GPhC for four CPD records a year; the GMC and the HCPC set no hours but expect a record, a reflection and, for the HCPC, a profile on audit.
- No regulator approves or endorses individual courses. Our courses are CPD certified by The CPD Certification Service; the record you keep is what counts.
- The same course serves a professional responding to a complaint and a professional planning CPD. Each is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10); the £49 Modules on Insight and Reflection sit beside them.
What is an ethics CPD course?
An ethics CPD course is a short course on the ethical principles that sit behind your regulator’s code and on how those principles are applied in practice. Ours cover honesty and candour; respect for the patient’s choices, consent and capacity; acting for the patient’s good and avoiding harm; fairness between patients; confidentiality and when it can be set aside; boundaries with a patient or a colleague; and conflicts of interest. Each course then applies the principles to the regulator’s own standards (the GMC’s Good medical practice, the NMC Code, the GDC Standards for the Dental Team, the GPhC Standards for pharmacy professionals, the HCPC Standards of conduct, performance and ethics, and the others), with case examples drawn from the kinds of concern regulators see, and ends with a short assessment and a reflection on your own practice.
Two things make a course count as CPD rather than reading: a record and a reflection. The certificate records the course title, the provider, the CPD hours and the date of completion; you then write down what you learned and what you will change. Each of our certificates carries the mark of The CPD Certification Service, which has certified Probity & Ethics as a provider (no. 13197).
Who needs an ethics CPD course?
- A registrant planning CPD. Ethics is a named or expected area of CPD for every UK regulator: it sits in the GMC’s domain of knowledge, skills and development, the NMC Code’s four themes, the GDC’s development outcomes, the GPhC standards the reflective account must address, and the HCPC standards of conduct, performance and ethics.
- A registrant with a concern raised. When a complaint, a referral or an investigation turns on honesty, consent, confidentiality, a boundary or a clinical decision, the case examiners or the committee look for insight and remediation. A course on the subject, taken early and followed by a written reflection, is evidence of both.
- A registrant under conditions or an undertaking. Conditions set by a tribunal or agreed with a regulator can require set learning on a named subject. A dated certificate with the hours and the content is the record the regulator asks for.
- A team or an employer. Practices, trusts and agencies use the courses for induction, for a team after an incident, and for annual ethics CPD, through the Bulk Buy offer or a licence.
How do CPD hours and records work for each UK regulator?
Each regulator sets its own rules. None of them approves individual courses; each expects you to choose relevant learning, record it and reflect on it. The figures below are from the regulators’ own pages and the guidance cited in Sources.
| Regulator | What it asks for | How an ethics course fits |
|---|---|---|
| GMC (doctors) | Revalidation every five years on the strength of annual appraisals. The GMC sets no number of CPD hours or credits. CPD is one of six types of supporting information, should cover your whole scope of practice, and should include a reflection on what changed. | Record the course and your reflection as CPD for your next appraisal. Royal colleges and faculties run credit schemes of their own; check your college’s rules on self-certified learning. |
| NMC (nurses, midwives, nursing associates) | Revalidation every three years: 450 practice hours, 35 hours of CPD of which at least 20 are participatory, five pieces of practice-related feedback, five written reflective accounts linked to the Code, a reflective discussion, and confirmation. | A 2-hour course counts towards the 35 hours as self-directed learning, recorded with the certificate. It is a ready subject for one of the five written reflective accounts, linked to the Code’s theme on preserving safety or promoting professionalism and trust. |
| GDC (dentists and dental care professionals) | Enhanced CPD: 100 verifiable hours in each five-year cycle for dentists, 75 for dental therapists, hygienists, orthodontic therapists and clinical dental technicians, 50 for dental nurses and dental technicians; at least 10 hours in any two consecutive years; a personal development plan; an annual CPD statement; each activity linked to a development outcome (A to D). | The certificate records the provider, the hours and the learning outcome, which is what makes CPD verifiable. Ethics maps to development outcome A (communication, consent, confidentiality) and D (maintaining skills, behaviours and attitudes). The GDC also publishes recommended topics. |
| GPhC (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians) | Revalidation every year: four CPD records, of which at least two are planned learning, one peer discussion record, and one reflective account, reflecting against any of the nine standards for pharmacy professionals. | A course is a planned learning record: what you set out to learn, what you did, and how it changed your practice. The standards on behaving professionally and communicating effectively are the ones an ethics course speaks to. |
| HCPC (15 professions, including paramedics, physiotherapists, radiographers and psychologists) | Five CPD standards: keep a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record; mix learning activities relevant to current or future practice; seek to ensure CPD has contributed to the quality of your practice; seek to ensure it benefits the service user; and present a written profile on request. No number of hours. At each two-yearly renewal a random 2.5 per cent of each profession is audited. | The course is one dated entry in your record. If you are audited, your profile explains how it improved your practice and benefited service users; the course’s own reflection is the starting point. |
| Social Work England, GOC, GOsC, GCC | Each has its own scheme: Social Work England asks for CPD records at annual renewal, the GOC for points in its three-year cycle, the GOsC for 90 hours in three years, the GCC for an annual CPD summary. | Our pages for each regulator set out the scheme and the courses that fit: Social Work England, GOC, GOsC and GCC. |
One point applies to every regulator: a course is not CPD until you have recorded it and reflected on it. Keep the certificate, write three or four lines on what changed, and file both where your regulator expects to find them.
What does an ethics CPD course cover?
Each of our ethics courses follows the same shape, written to the regulator for that profession:
- The principles. Respect for the patient’s choices (autonomy), acting for the patient’s good (beneficence), avoiding harm (non-maleficence) and fairness (justice), with honesty and candour running through all four.
- Consent and capacity. What valid consent needs, when a patient lacks capacity, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its best-interests test, and the duty to give the patient the information a reasonable patient would want.
- Confidentiality. The duty, the exceptions, and how to decide when disclosure is justified.
- Honesty and candour. Telling patients when something has gone wrong, honesty in records and references, and probity in dealings with employers and regulators.
- Boundaries and conflicts of interest. A boundary with a patient or a colleague, gifts, financial interests, social media.
- The regulator’s standards. How each principle appears in your code, with case examples of the concerns regulators see.
- Insight, reflection and remediation. A closing section on what you take into your own practice, written so that it can be used in a reflective account or, after a concern, in your response to the regulator.
They are remediation courses for a professional who has to show understanding of the standards, written by a GMC-registered general practitioner with a postgraduate certificate in healthcare law and ethics.
How does an ethics course help after a complaint or an investigation?
Every UK regulator decides a concern on two questions: what happened, and whether your fitness to practise is impaired now. The second question is where a course matters. Case examiners, investigating committees and fitness to practise panels look for insight (do you understand what went wrong and why it mattered?), remediation (what have you done about it?) and the risk of repetition. A course on the subject of the concern, completed before the decision and followed by a reflection in your own words, is evidence of the first two and bears on the third.
Use it in this order: take advice from your defence organisation, union or legal representative; take the course on the subject the concern names, and the ethics course for the principles behind it; write a reflection that names the standard, what you did, what you have learned and what you now do differently; send the certificate and the reflection with your response. Our guide to dealing with a fitness to practise complaint sets out the first 30 days regulator by regulator.
Please note
No course can guarantee the outcome of a complaint, investigation or hearing, and each regulator decides each case on its facts. Take advice from your defence organisation, professional body or legal representative before you send anything to your regulator. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
How do I choose the right ethics course?
- Start with your regulator. Take the ethics course written for your profession; it is built on your regulator’s own standards and uses its language.
- Match the subject of any concern. If the concern is about consent, records, a boundary or candour, add the course on that subject; the ethics course gives the principles, the subject course the detail.
- Check what your regulator needs in the record. Hours, a learning outcome, a planned or unplanned entry, a reflection: the table above tells you which.
- Check the provider’s certification. Our courses are CPD accredited through The CPD Certification Service and the certificate carries its mark and the hours.
- Plan the reflection before you start. Decide what question about your practice the course should answer; write the answer when you finish.
Our ethics courses and the Bulk Buy offer
Every course below is online and self-paced, with immediate access and a dated certificate. They serve a professional responding to a complaint, a referral or conditions, and a professional planning CPD. Each is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10) for 2 CPD hours; three courses are £200, five £300 and ten £500 with Bulk Buy, applied in the basket. Not sure which course fits? See which course do I need.
Course for all healthcare professionals
Ethics for Healthcare Professionals
The ethical principles that apply across healthcare, consent and capacity, confidentiality, honesty and candour, boundaries and conflicts of interest, with insight, reflection and remediation at the end. Probity & Ethics courses are CPD accredited through The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197).
- £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10)
- 2 CPD hours
- Certificate on completion
Ethics courses by profession
The £49 Modules on Insight and Reflection are priced at £49 each and sit outside Bulk Buy; the Course on Remediation covers the remediation plan itself. For a team, see courses for organisations.
This guide is part of our Professional Misconduct hub, which brings together every Probity & Ethics guide and course on the subject.
Questions and answers
What is an ethics CPD course?
A short online course on the ethical principles and the professional standards that apply to your registration, with a certificate at the end that records the course title, the CPD hours and the date. Our ethics courses take 2 CPD hours, are self-paced, and are CPD certified by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197). Each is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10).
Does an ethics CPD course count towards revalidation or my CPD record?
It depends on your regulator's rules, which this guide sets out. The NMC counts it towards the 35 CPD hours if you record it and reflect on it; the GDC counts it as verifiable CPD because the certificate records the hours, the provider and a learning outcome; the GPhC counts it as one of your four annual CPD records once you write it up; the HCPC and the GMC set no hours but expect a record and a reflection. No regulator approves or endorses individual courses, so the record you keep is what counts.
Which ethics course should I take?
Take the course written for your profession: Ethics and Ethical Standards for Doctors, for Nurses and Midwives, for Dentists and Dental Professionals, for Pharmacists, for HCPC-regulated professionals, for Social Workers, for Osteopaths, for Chiropractors, or for Optometrists and Opticians. Each is built on that regulator's own standards. If you want a course on the principles that apply across healthcare, take Ethics for Healthcare Professionals or Medical Ethics. Each is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10).
Can I use an ethics CPD course after a complaint or an investigation?
Yes. The same course serves a professional responding to a complaint, a referral or conditions, and a professional planning CPD. After a concern, the course and your written reflection are evidence of insight and remediation that case examiners and committees read beside your representations. Take it early, keep the dated certificate, and write the reflection in your own words.
How long does an ethics CPD course take?
Two CPD hours, at your own pace, with immediate access on payment and twelve months to complete it. There is a short assessment at the end and the certificate is issued on completion.
Does my regulator accredit the course?
No regulator accredits or approves CPD courses from any provider; each regulator sets the rules for what you record. Our courses are CPD accredited through The CPD Certification Service, an independent body, and the certificate carries its mark. Check your own regulator's CPD pages for how to record the hours.
What is the difference between an ethics course and a professionalism course?
The ethics course covers the principles behind the standards: honesty, respect for the patient's choices, doing good and avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality and consent, and how they are applied in your regulator's code. The professionalism course covers the standards of conduct themselves: behaviour towards patients and colleagues, records, communication, boundaries and the duties that follow a mistake. Taken together they cover the whole of a regulator's code; each is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10).
Can I buy several courses at once?
Yes. The Bulk Buy offer gives 3 courses for £200, 5 for £300 and 10 for £500 (£50 each), chosen from the full course list, for one professional or for a team. The £49 Modules on Insight and Reflection are priced at £49 each and sit outside Bulk Buy.
Sources
This guide is based on the following regulator pages and guidance, checked on 1 November 2026.
- NMC: Revalidation requirements
- GDC: Enhanced CPD scheme
- GPhC: Revalidation
- HCPC: Our standards for CPD and Continuing professional development and your registration
- GMC: Revalidation and Continuing professional development: guidance for all doctors
- The CPD Certification Service (Probity & Ethics, provider no. 13197)
