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📘 Mandatory Training · By role

Mandatory training for GP registrars

Doctors in GP specialty training (ST1 to ST3) placed in a training practice. Their RCGP portfolio (WPBA) rules sit on top of the practice's own training list.

CQC sets no fixed list of courses: each practice decides through its own training needs analysis. This page shows what national guidance and regulators expect for the role.

Needed for the role

  • Safeguarding Adults, Level 3 (free, 1 CPD hour): RCGP WPBA: evidence of Level 3 adult safeguarding is needed from the start of ST1, with a knowledge update every 12 months and a new Level 3 course at least every 36 months. Source
  • Safeguarding Children, Level 3 (free, 1 CPD hour): RCGP WPBA: evidence of Level 3 child safeguarding is needed from the start of ST1, with a knowledge update every 12 months. Source
  • Resuscitation Adults, Level 2 (free, 1 CPD hour): Useful theory, but RCGP will only accept a face-to-face CPR and AED session for your portfolio, so this course cannot be your evidence on its own. Source
  • Resuscitation Paediatric, Level 2 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): RCGP requires paediatric CPR competence every 12 months unless no placement in that period involves children; online-only evidence is not accepted. Source
  • Infection Prevention and Control, Level 2 (free, 1 CPD hour): Level 2 is for staff who give direct patient care (NHS Core Skills Training Framework), and CQC expects the practice IPC policy to state training and update frequency. Source
  • Mental Capacity Act, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): CQC Regulation 11 says staff who obtain consent must know and apply the Mental Capacity Act, and CQC lists MCA training among the evidence it expects. Source
  • Fire Safety, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): The Fire Safety Order (art. 21) requires adequate fire training on recruitment and when risks change, and CQC lists fire safety training among the evidence it expects. Source
  • Health, Safety and Welfare, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Employers must give health and safety training on recruitment and when risks change (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg 13). Source
  • Data Security Awareness, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): The Data Security and Protection Toolkit expects all staff with access to personal data to complete data security training every year, with at least 95% of staff trained. Source
  • Duty of Candour, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): CQC checks that practices train all staff on communicating with patients about notifiable safety incidents (Regulation 20). Source

Recommended

  • Anaphylaxis, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): CQC expects clinicians to be able to manage expected emergencies such as anaphylaxis; it becomes required every year if you vaccinate (UKHSA). Source
  • Sepsis Awareness, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): CQC may check that training helps staff recognise deteriorating patients who may have sepsis, and expects clinical staff to be trained to calculate a NEWS score. Source
  • Preventing Radicalisation, Basic Prevent Awareness, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Level 3 builds on Level 1-2 competence, so take it at induction unless your Level 3 course already covers it; our course cannot give you Level 3. Source
  • Equality, Diversity and Human Rights, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): No law or CQC rule names this course for GP staff; the NHS Core Skills Training Framework sets it for all staff every 3 years. Source
  • Conflict Resolution, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): The NHS Core Skills Training Framework sets it for staff in direct contact with the public; for GP practices CQC leaves the choice to the practice. Source
  • Moving and Handling, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): The BMA says the need depends on the tasks you do (Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992); the NHS framework sets Level 1 for all staff. Source
  • Learning Disability and Autism, awareness primer, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Useful background, but it is not Oliver McGowan training and cannot meet the statutory code alone (no live session co-delivered by people with lived experience, no accreditation). Source
  • Chaperones, Level 1 (free, 0.5 CPD hours): CQC says all staff should understand the chaperone role, and clinicians must offer a chaperone for intimate examinations and record it. Source
  • Consent, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): CQC Regulation 11 requires valid consent and says staff must follow the practice's consent policy; no national course is specified. Source
  • Complaints Handling, Level 1 (free, 0.5 CPD hours): CQC's Regulation 16 guidance says all staff must know how to respond when they receive a complaint. Source
  • Domestic Abuse Awareness, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): NICE PH50 recommends GPs, nurses and other clinicians are trained to ask about abuse and respond safely, and RCGP safeguarding standards include domestic abuse at every level. Source
  • Female Genital Mutilation Awareness, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): As a regulated professional you have a legal duty to report known FGM in a girl under 18 to the police; no specific course is mandated. Source
  • Freedom to Speak Up, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): The National Guardian's Office 'Speak Up' core module is for all workers, and CQC expects practices to have speaking-up arrangements staff know about. Source
  • Preventing Sexual Harassment at Work, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment (Equality Act 2010 s40A, since 26 October 2024), and EHRC guidance says all staff should be trained. Source

If it fits your duties

  • Resuscitation Newborn, Level 2 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Resuscitation Council UK asks for newborn resuscitation training for clinical staff only 'where appropriate', which is rare in a GP surgery. Source
  • Moving and Handling, Level 2 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Level 2 is only for staff whose role involves moving or handling patients (NHS Core Skills Training Framework). Source
  • Display Screen Equipment, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): Applies if you use a screen daily for continuous spells of an hour or more (DSE Regulations 1992, reg 6). Source
  • Hazardous Substances (COSHH), Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): COSHH reg 12: staff exposed to hazardous substances (for example disinfectants, specimens, liquid nitrogen) must be given information, instruction and training. Source
  • Lone Working, Level 1 (free, 0.75 CPD hours): HSE says employers should provide training, supervision and monitoring for staff who work alone, for example on home visits or opening and closing the building. Source

Also needed, from other providers

  • Face-to-face CPR and AED session every 12 months (adult, and paediatric unless no paediatric exposure), run by a Resuscitation Council UK instructor or equivalent: RCGP WPBA: online-only CPR and AED evidence is not acceptable for GP registrars, and the certificate must still be valid at CCT. Source
  • Yearly safeguarding knowledge updates and one adult and one child safeguarding Clinical Case Review in each training year: RCGP WPBA portfolio requirement for all GP registrars. Source
  • Preventing Radicalisation: Awareness of Prevent (Level 3), the e-LfH/ESR course named by the framework: DHSC's framework puts staff who could help assess, plan, intervene in or evaluate the needs of an adult or child with safeguarding concerns at Level 3; annual updates and a refresher every 3 years. Source
  • Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training, Tier 2 (90-minute e-learning plus a one-day face-to-face session co-delivered by people with a learning disability and autistic people): A legal requirement since 2022, with a statutory code since 6 September 2025: GPs, practice nurses, phlebotomists and other clinical staff in primary care are likely to need Tier 2; refresh at least every 3 years. Source

Other roles

All mandatory training courses

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