When Should a Doctor Do a GMC Professionalism Course?

Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, MBBS, MRCS, MRCGP, Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics · Updated 6 November 2026

When should a doctor do a GMC professionalism course?

There are four points at which the course is worth doing:

1. Before any concern, as part of your yearly CPD or when your role changes.
2. When a concern is raised locally, such as a complaint or a meeting with your clinical lead.
3. When the GMC tells you it is investigating, before you send your comments.
4. After an outcome, such as a warning or undertakings, or before a tribunal hearing.

The rule is the same at each point: do it before the next decision is made about you, not after.

What Good medical practice (2024) means by professionalism

Professionalism concerns are measured against Domain 3, Colleagues, culture and safety, and Domain 4, Trust and professionalism. The paragraphs that come up in conduct cases are:

• Paragraph 48: treat all colleagues, including non-medical staff, with kindness, courtesy and respect.
• Paragraph 49: listen to colleagues and communicate clearly, politely and considerately.
• Paragraph 53: be aware of how your behaviour affects others inside and outside your team.
• Paragraph 56: do not abuse, discriminate against, bully or harass anyone.

Domain 4 adds that your conduct must justify the trust of patients and the public, and that you keep professional boundaries with patients; paragraph 57 sets the same line with colleagues. Our guide to what changed in Good medical practice 2024 explains the new duties on behaviour at work.

Before any concern: CPD for appraisal, revalidation and a new role

Domain 1 asks you, at paragraph 12, to take part in structured support when you join an organisation or your role changes, and at paragraph 13(d) to reflect on how your experience, culture and beliefs affect your decisions. A professionalism course with a reflection is evidence of both. The GMC’s revalidation guidance asks for CPD every year across your whole practice, with reflection, and sets no points target; two hours with a dated certificate fits that. If a concern arises later, the same certificate shows you were attending to your standards before anyone asked.

When the GMC tells you it is investigating

The GMC’s guide Our fitness to practise processes says it first triages a concern without telling you. If it opens an investigation, you and your employer are told and you are asked for your comments, which it says “may help us to resolve the case more quickly”. Two case examiners, one medical and one non-medical, then decide between no further action, a warning, undertakings or referral to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).

The GMC’s page on investigations says no further action can follow where the doctor “has made a great effort to make sure they won’t make the mistake again”. That is why the course belongs before your comments go in, with advice from your defence organisation.

After a warning, undertakings or a referral to a tribunal

A GMC warning stays on your status page for one year and on your history page for a further year. Undertakings are an agreement to improve, and can include further learning or supervision. If your case goes to an MPTS tribunal, the GMC’s guide says the tribunal decides whether your fitness to practise is impaired, and may take into account written undertakings you have already made. A recent course and an updated reflection show the change has lasted. How each closed outcome works is in our guide to a case closed without a hearing.

What the GMC professionalism course covers

Six sections and 21 lessons: an overview of professionalism; eight core principles, from patient-centred care, integrity and accountability to teamwork and reflective practice; Good medical practice (2024); professional boundaries and ethical conduct; breaches, their consequences and remediation; and a closing assessment. The certificate shows the course title, the CPD hours and the date.

When a different course fits better

If the concern is a single incident that must not happen again, How to Ensure a Similar Mistake or Misconduct Will Not Be Repeated in Future is built around that. If it is a moral judgement, such as consent or confidentiality, Ethics and Ethical Standards for Doctors fits better.

Our GMC professionalism course for a concern, and for CPD

Courses that sit beside it

Bulk Buy covers the £79 courses: 3 for £200, 5 for £300, 10 for £500. Not sure what to take? Book a free 15-minute call or see which course do I need.

Guides that help

This guide is part of our Professional Misconduct hub, which brings together every Probity & Ethics guide and course on the subject.

The CPD courses linked from this guide, Professionalism and Professional Standards for Doctors, How to Ensure a Similar Mistake or Misconduct Will Not Be Repeated in Future, Ethics and Ethical Standards for Doctors and Module on Insight, are by Probity & Ethics, written by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197) and offered since 2020.

Questions and answers