GMC Remediation Courses for Doctors | Independent CPD | IRR PracticeSkip to courses
Independent CPD · aligned with Good Medical Practice 2024
GMC Remediation Courses for Doctors
Structured CPD courses for doctors who need to strengthen professional knowledge, reflection and evidence of learning following a GMC concern or professional issue. Learn at your own pace and receive a certificate on completion.
Independent CPD provider. Not affiliated with, accredited by, or endorsed by the GMC or MPTS. Course completion does not guarantee any regulatory outcome.
Independent CPD education28 coursesCertificate on completionFlexible online learning
Course selection
Choose a Course Based on Your Concern
Not sure which course is relevant? Start with the professional issue or learning need that best matches your situation. This is a guide to help you narrow the catalogue — it does not determine what you must complete for any regulatory purpose.
A structured starting point · 8 courses · ~13.5 CPD hours
The Core GMC Remediation Set
A structured starting point for developing insight, documenting learning and demonstrating practical steps toward professional improvement — for doctors who want broad professional development rather than a single-topic course. Choosing the set does not, by itself, satisfy any GMC requirement; relevance depends on your circumstances.
Module on Insight1.5 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
Module on Reflection1.5 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
Module on Remediation1.5 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
How to Ensure a Similar Mistake Will Not Be Repeated2 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
Fitness to Practise Course2 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
Rebuilding Trust with Patients and the Regulator2 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
Professionalism & Professional Standards for Doctors2 CPD pts · £65 · certificate
Full catalogue · 28 courses
Explore All 28 Courses
Every course shows its CPD hours, price and certificate information. Focus is on what you will learn and how it may support your professional development — not on any regulatory result. Browse by category below.
Showing all 28 courses, grouped into 6 areas
Ethics, consent & professional decision-making5 courses
For doctors whose concern involves ethical judgement, valid consent, dignity or the patient relationship.
For doctors whose concern involves ethical judgement, valid consent, dignity or the patient relationship.
GMC investigations frequently centre on ethical failures - inadequate consent, deception, or conflicts of interest. This course works through the four pillars of medical ethics as GMC applies them in fitness to practise cases, showing exactly where and why ethical practice breaks down.
Four principles of medical ethics mapped to Good Medical Practice
How consent failures, dishonesty and conflicts generate GMC referrals
Writing an ethical reflection that demonstrates genuine insight to case examiners
For doctors whose concern involves ethical judgement, valid consent, dignity or the patient relationship.
When a GMC concern spans multiple ethical areas rather than one specific principle, a comprehensive ethical foundation makes your remediation response more credible. Covers moral reasoning frameworks and how regulators actually apply them when assessing fitness.
Moral reasoning frameworks doctors use when facing ethical dilemmas
How GMC weighs ethical conduct across all four Good Medical Practice domains
Duty of candour - what it requires and how failures escalate to formal concerns
For doctors whose concern involves ethical judgement, valid consent, dignity or the patient relationship.
At 2.5 CPD hours, this is the most substantial medical ethics course available. Written for UK doctors facing substantive GMC concerns where a panel hearing is likely. Covers the full range of ethical obligations - from end-of-life decisions to research ethics to financial conduct.
End-of-life decisions, patient capacity and best interests assessments
Research ethics, data protection and obligations beyond the consulting room
Building an ethical framework that withstands regulatory scrutiny
For doctors whose concern involves ethical judgement, valid consent, dignity or the patient relationship.
Most GMC cases do not arise from clear ethical failures but from grey areas - complex situations where the right course was not obvious. This course addresses the daily ethical decisions doctors face, examining the specific grey areas where most investigations originate.
Navigating ethically ambiguous clinical situations without clear right answers
Whistleblowing, raising concerns and when the duty of candour applies
Managing ethical conflict with colleagues, employers and the system
For doctors whose concern involves ethical judgement, valid consent, dignity or the patient relationship.
Consent failures rank among the most frequent reasons for GMC referrals. This course covers what valid consent actually requires in UK medical practice - capacity, information, voluntariness - and examines the specific scenarios where consent most commonly breaks down, including chaperone obligations.
What makes consent valid under UK law and GMC standards - the three requirements
Consent for patients lacking capacity - best interests, deputies and court orders
Chaperone obligations - when they apply, how to document them, and what happens when they are not followed
For doctors whose concern involves conduct, communication, documentation or working with colleagues.
This course is structured around the four domains of Good Medical Practice - the identical framework GMC uses to assess every doctor they investigate. Rather than describing standards abstractly, it traces how each domain applies in real clinical situations and how case examiners evaluate compliance.
Good Medical Practice four domains - what each actually requires day-to-day
How GMC assesses professionalism differently from a bad clinical outcome
Demonstrating to case examiners that professional standards have been internalised
For doctors whose concern involves conduct, communication, documentation or working with colleagues.
Professionalism is not one standard but a cluster of behaviours that span every aspect of medical practice - from how you communicate under pressure to how you respond to a colleague in difficulty. This course provides the broad professional grounding that contextualises more specific remediation work.
Professionalism in practice - what it looks like when regulators are watching
How personal circumstances affect professional performance and what to do
The relationship between professional conduct and patient safety outcomes
For doctors whose concern involves conduct, communication, documentation or working with colleagues.
Communication failures underlie more GMC concerns than almost any other single factor. Inadequate information, failure to listen, poor handling of complaints - each can independently generate a formal concern. This course examines where communication most commonly breaks down and what effective professional communication requires under GMC standards.
Communication standards required under the Practise Effectively domain
Breaking bad news, handling complaints and difficult conversations professionally
How poor written communication in referrals and records escalates into GMC concerns
For doctors whose concern involves conduct, communication, documentation or working with colleagues.
The Working with Colleagues domain of Good Medical Practice sets standards for teamwork, delegation, supervision and raising concerns. When GMC concerns involve behaviour toward colleagues, this is the domain under scrutiny. This course examines what it requires and how to demonstrate genuine improvement.
What the Working with Colleagues domain actually requires under GMC standards
Accountability in hierarchical clinical environments - delegation and supervision
Raising concerns about colleagues - when, how, and the professional obligation to do so
For doctors whose concern involves conduct, communication, documentation or working with colleagues.
Poor documentation features in a significant proportion of GMC investigations - either as the primary concern or as an aggravating factor. This course examines what professional record-keeping requires, the specific failures that most commonly arise, and how documentation quality affects how regulators assess your overall professionalism.
GMC expectations for clinical records - accuracy, completeness and timing
How to amend records appropriately without creating additional concerns
Why documentation quality directly affects how case examiners assess your honesty
For doctors whose concern involves honesty, candour, accurate information or financial integrity.
When GMC uses the word probity, they mean more than honesty - they mean the fundamental trustworthiness that underpins the entire doctor-patient relationship. Probity obligations cover financial conduct, accuracy of information, and how you behave when no one is watching. If your GMC letter mentions probity, this is your first course.
What probity means in regulatory practice - beyond honesty to fundamental integrity
Probity obligations in Good Medical Practice broken down section by section
How GMC weighs probity failures when assessing whether trust in a doctor can be restored
For doctors whose concern involves honesty, candour, accurate information or financial integrity.
Financial concerns in GMC investigations cover a specific range of obligations - prescribing independence, referral arrangements, undisclosed private interests, and accuracy of financial records. If your concern touches any of these areas, this course addresses the precise obligations under Good Medical Practice.
For doctors whose concern involves honesty, candour, accurate information or financial integrity.
The duty of candour requires doctors to be open and honest with patients when things go wrong - promptly, with an apology, and with an explanation of what happened. Failures in candour compound original errors and are treated seriously by GMC. This course examines exactly what the duty requires and how to apply it.
When the duty of candour is triggered and what timely disclosure looks like
The difference between a genuine apology and an admission of legal liability
How to document your candour response so it is available as remediation evidence
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
GMC case examiners consistently identify insight as the single most important factor when assessing whether a doctor can be trusted to practise safely. This module teaches you what genuine insight looks like in a regulatory context - not expressions of remorse, but demonstrable understanding of what happened and why it must not happen again.
What GMC means by insight - and what examiners look for that is not insight
The difference between understanding what you did and understanding why you did it
How to structure an insight statement that case examiners find credible and specific
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
Reflection is the foundation of remediation - but most doctors have never been taught how to reflect in a way that produces useful regulatory evidence. This module teaches structured reflection using frameworks accepted in UK medical practice, applied specifically to the kind of concern that generates GMC investigations.
Structured reflective frameworks used in UK medical practice - Gibbs, Schon, Johns
What good reflection says about what changed - not just what happened
Maintaining a reflective log throughout an investigation to build ongoing evidence
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
Remediation is not a checklist - it is a credible body of evidence that tells GMC a coherent story about change. This module teaches you how to construct that story: what to include, what sequence works, how much is enough, and how to present it so that case examiners can actually evaluate the change you are claiming.
What a complete remediation response looks like - components GMC expects to see
How to sequence your remediation so early action is visible and credible
Presenting your evidence in written submissions and at MPTS hearings effectively
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
Most doctors receiving a GMC letter have never engaged with the fitness to practise process before. Understanding how the process works - the legal tests applied, the stages, the possible outcomes, your rights - fundamentally changes how effectively you can respond. This course provides that foundation.
How a GMC fitness to practise case progresses from referral to outcome
The legal test for current impairment and how it differs from past conduct
Your rights and obligations at each stage - from interim orders to MPTS panels
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
One of the central questions in every GMC case is whether the same thing will happen again. Case examiners are specifically trained to assess this - and a vague statement that you will be more careful is not an answer. This course teaches root cause analysis applied to your own practice and how to build verifiable personal safeguards.
Root cause analysis applied to a specific clinical or professional failure
How to identify personal, systemic and contextual factors - not just individual error
Designing personal safeguards that are realistic, observable and verifiable by others
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
Most fitness to practise concerns begin with an avoidable complaint. This course looks at the early warning signs, the communication and record-keeping habits that reduce risk, and the practical steps that keep everyday practice from escalating into a formal investigation.
The most common triggers behind patient and colleague complaints
Communication and documentation habits that prevent escalation
How to respond early when concerns are first raised
For doctors who want to understand the process and build insight, reflection and remediation evidence.
When a complaint or investigation does arrive, how you respond shapes the outcome. This course walks through each stage of the process, what your regulator is looking for, and how to prepare a calm, structured, and credible response rather than reacting under pressure.
What each stage of a complaint or investigation involves
How to prepare a structured, evidence-led written response
Managing the process professionally while protecting your wellbeing
For doctors whose concern involves boundaries, relationships, confidentiality, conduct online or rebuilding trust.
Professional boundaries in medical practice are not instinctive - they require active maintenance. Most boundary violations do not begin as deliberate acts but as gradual drift that goes unrecognised until it has caused harm. This course examines how boundaries erode, what genuine maintenance looks like, and what GMC expects when concerns have already arisen.
How professional boundaries erode gradually - the warning signs most doctors miss
Sexual boundaries, physical contact and the legal framework in UK medical practice
What re-establishing boundaries looks like in practice and how to document it
For doctors whose concern involves boundaries, relationships, confidentiality, conduct online or rebuilding trust.
Boundary violations with patients and colleagues are among the most serious matters GMC investigates - and they rarely happen suddenly. This course examines the gradual erosion that precedes most boundary breaches, and what genuine boundary maintenance requires in medical practice.
How professional boundaries erode gradually - the pattern GMC most commonly sees
Sexual boundaries, personal disclosure and the management of dual relationships
Re-establishing appropriate boundaries after a lapse and documenting the change
For doctors whose concern involves boundaries, relationships, confidentiality, conduct online or rebuilding trust.
Online conduct is now one of the fastest-growing categories of GMC referral. Patient contact via social media, commentary about cases, inappropriate posts, and inadequate anonymisation each carry specific professional risks that most doctors underestimate. This course examines what GMC expects and where the risks are highest.
GMC social media guidance - what conduct triggers regulatory concern
Why any patient contact via social media is a boundary issue regardless of intent
Anonymisation requirements - what they actually mean and why most approaches fall short
For doctors whose concern involves boundaries, relationships, confidentiality, conduct online or rebuilding trust.
When a GMC investigation has progressed to a review hearing or a panel, the central question shifts from what happened to whether it can be trusted not to happen again. This course focuses specifically on the evidence that rebuilds trust - not performative gestures but verifiable, sustained changes that others can confirm.
What verifiable trust-rebuilding looks like - what GMC panels actually assess
How supervisors, employers and colleagues can provide evidence that supports your case
Presenting trust evidence in written submissions and oral hearings compellingly
For doctors whose concern involves boundaries, relationships, confidentiality, conduct online or rebuilding trust.
Concerns about discriminatory treatment, failures to maintain patient dignity, or biased professional conduct are taken seriously by GMC under both Good Medical Practice and the Equality Act 2010. This course examines what non-discrimination and dignity in clinical practice require - and how unconscious bias contributes to concerns that doctors often do not recognise as discrimination.
Equality Act 2010 obligations as they apply to medical practice and employment
Unconscious bias in clinical decision-making - the evidence and what to do about it
Dignity in high-stakes contexts including end-of-life care and psychiatric settings
For doctors whose concern involves boundaries, relationships, confidentiality, conduct online or rebuilding trust.
Confidentiality breaches are a consistent source of GMC referrals - from inappropriate disclosures to colleagues, to inadequate data protection practices, to disclosures on social media. This course examines the full scope of your confidentiality obligations and where they are most commonly breached.
When patient confidentiality can lawfully be broken - public interest and safeguarding
Data protection obligations as they apply specifically to clinical information
Managing confidentiality risks in teams, referrals and digital communications
For doctors whose concern relates to clinical competence, prescribing or patient safety.
Where GMC concerns relate to clinical competence rather than conduct - errors in clinical judgement, outdated practice, knowledge gaps - the remediation response requires a different approach. You need to demonstrate not just that you understand what went wrong, but that your competence has been objectively assessed and verified as restored.
How GMC assesses clinical competence concerns differently from conduct concerns
Objective assessment, supervised practice and what constitutes competence evidence
How to demonstrate that clinical competence has been verified - not just self-assessed
For doctors whose concern relates to clinical competence, prescribing or patient safety.
Prescribing errors are a frequent source of regulatory concern. This course covers the principles of safe, effective prescribing - from decision-making and documentation to monitoring and shared responsibility - and shows how to evidence safe practice as part of a remediation response.
Core principles of safe and effective prescribing decisions
Documentation, monitoring, and review that reduce prescribing risk
How to evidence safe prescribing as remediation for your regulator
Remediation is broader than completing a course. A useful way to think about it is a cycle: understand the concern, identify your learning needs, reflect, take corrective action, and demonstrate ongoing change.
CPD courses can provide structured learning and documentation that may support that process — but their relevance depends on your individual circumstances and the concern involved. These 28 courses translate professional standards and remediation concepts into self-paced learning, each awarding CPD hours and a certificate.
Key point: a certificate is evidence that learning was completed. It is not, by itself, proof that a professional concern has been remediated.
A concern may be raised about a doctor's practice, conduct, health or other matters relevant to fitness to practise. The exact route and outcome depend on the individual facts and the applicable GMC process.
STAGE 1
Concern raised
By a patient, employer, colleague or another body about a doctor's fitness to practise.
STAGE 2
GMC process
The GMC assesses the concern through its fitness-to-practise processes.
STAGE 3
Investigation / assessment
May involve enquiries, interim measures, or assessment of the doctor's response.
STAGE 4
Possible MPTS involvement
Some cases are referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, which decides independently.
STAGE 5
Outcome
Determined by the process and the individual circumstances of the case.
Learning and remediation may be relevant to how a doctor responds to concerns, but they do not replace case-specific legal or regulatory advice. Read the GMC's official explanation ↗
The decision-making framework
How the GMC Considers Fitness to Practise Concerns
These are key elements the GMC weighs when assessing a concern. They are not a fixed formula, and outcomes depend on the individual circumstances of each case.
1
Seriousness
What happened, and how serious is the concern? The nature and gravity of the issue shape how it is handled.
2
Relevant context
What circumstances, systems, workplace or other factors are relevant to what occurred?
3
The doctor's response
What has the doctor done in response — including relevant evidence of insight, learning and remediation?
The courses on this page relate to the third element — supporting a doctor's learning and giving them material to reflect on. Learn about insight and remediation below.
Key concepts
Insight, Reflection and Remediation
Four terms recur in GMC correspondence. They are not interchangeable, and knowing which one applies changes how a doctor responds.
The question being asked
Fitness to practise
Having the knowledge, skills, character and health to practise safely. A concern is assessed through the GMC's fitness-to-practise processes; it concerns current and future safe practice, not only what happened.
Understanding
Insight
Understanding what happened, why it happened, the impact on patients and others, your professional responsibilities, and what should be done differently.
Learning from experience
Reflection
A structured process of learning from experience — considering learning, impact and future practice, rather than simply producing a factual narrative of events.
Concrete steps
Remediation
Concrete steps taken to address identified learning or professional deficiencies and reduce the risk of recurrence. Evidence of change may include CPD, reflective work, feedback, supervision, assessments, audits, action plans or changes to practice.
These descriptions summarise how the terms are used in regulatory practice. They are not quotations from the GMC and are not legal advice — your defence organisation or solicitor should advise on your own case.
Alignment
How Our Courses Align With Good Medical Practice 2024
Good Medical Practice 2024 sets out the professional standards expected of doctors across four domains. Our courses are independently designed to build knowledge in these areas — they are not GMC-approved or endorsed.
DOMAIN 1
Knowledge, skills and development
Relevant course themes: clinical competence, safe prescribing, learning and professional development.
DOMAIN 2
Patients, partnership and communication
Relevant course themes: communication, consent, candour, confidentiality and patient relationships.
DOMAIN 3
Colleagues, culture and safety
Relevant course themes: teamwork, raising concerns, documentation, safety culture and professional behaviour.
DOMAIN 4
Trust and professionalism
Relevant course themes: ethics, probity, honesty, boundaries, integrity, social media and professionalism.
Turn Learning Into Evidence of Professional Development
CPD is most useful when it feeds a cycle. Here is how a single course can become part of a documented development record.
1
Learn
Complete structured CPD relevant to the identified learning need.
e.g. the Consent course after a consent-related concern.
2
Reflect
Consider what the learning means for your own practice.
e.g. a written note on what you would now do differently.
3
Act
Identify practical changes, safeguards or development actions where appropriate.
e.g. a revised consent checklist for your clinic.
4
Evidence
Keep relevant records — certificates, reflective notes, action plans, feedback.
e.g. certificate plus your reflective statement.
5
Review
Revisit whether the change has embedded and whether further development is needed.
e.g. a follow-up note at your next appraisal.
Be clear-eyed
What a CPD Certificate Can and Cannot Demonstrate
Understanding this protects you: presenting a certificate as more than it is can undermine credibility.
It can support
Evidence that a defined learning activity was completed
Documentation of relevant continuing professional development
A starting point for reflection and an evidence portfolio, where relevant
A record of learning to discuss at appraisal or other development processes, when appropriate
It cannot prove by itself
That a GMC concern has been remediated
That a doctor is no longer impaired
That a particular GMC or MPTS outcome will occur
That the GMC has approved or endorsed the course
That it replaces case-specific legal, regulatory or clinical assessment
The bigger picture
CPD Is One Part of a Wider Remediation Picture
Depending on the concern, useful evidence may come from several sources — CPD, reflective work, feedback, supervision, audits, assessments, workplace changes, action plans, patient-safety improvements or other case-appropriate evidence.
IRR Practice courses are written and reviewed by Dr Anthony Whitfield, a practising clinician with 29 years of experience across clinical practice, medical education and healthcare regulation.
His postgraduate training in healthcare law and ethics, and membership of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine, inform how each course connects clinical practice with professional standards. Regulatory content is written to reflect current published GMC guidance and reviewed when that guidance changes.
29 years' experienceClinical & medical educationHealthcare law & ethicsFaculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine
Content last reviewed against current GMC guidance: September 2026
Doctor feedback
What Doctors Say About the Learning Experience
Permission-based feedback about the courses as learning. Details are anonymised where identity cannot be shown. Feedback describes the learning experience only — not any regulatory result.
★★★★★
"Clear and well-structured. The reflection prompts helped me put my learning into my own words rather than just reading through material. That was the part I'd found hardest on my own."
GP, England
Verified learner · 2026 · shared with permission
★★★★★
"Genuinely useful rather than generic. The communication course was directly relevant to what I needed to think about, and the layout made it easy to work through at my own pace."
Consultant, Scotland
Verified learner · 2026 · shared with permission
★★★★★
"Easy to access and complete, and the certificate and my notes gave me something concrete to bring to my appraisal discussion. The structure made reflection much less daunting."
Registrar, England
Verified learner · 2026 · shared with permission
Official guidance
Official GMC Guidance for Doctors
Read the source material directly. These links go to the official GMC and MPTS websites.
No. The courses are independently provided CPD education and are not approved, accredited or endorsed by the GMC. They are CPD accredited as continuing professional development, which is separate from any regulator.
They may provide relevant structured learning and evidence of CPD, depending on your individual circumstances. No course can guarantee a regulatory outcome.
No. Completing a course may support learning, but insight is demonstrated through your own understanding, reflection, response and actions.
It may be relevant as evidence of completed learning. Its usefulness depends on the concern and the wider evidence available in your case.
Relevant CPD may contribute to appraisal and revalidation supporting information when appropriate. Completion alone does not automatically satisfy every revalidation requirement.
No. Choose learning that is relevant to your identified needs and circumstances. The concern selector is designed to help you narrow the catalogue.
No. They are educational CPD and are not a substitute for case-specific legal or regulatory advice.
No. Outcomes are determined by the relevant regulatory process and the individual circumstances of the case.
Each course shows its CPD hours on the course card. Most award 2 hours; the Insight, Reflection and Remediation modules award 1.5 each, and the Medical Ethics and Professional Ethics courses award 2.5 each. The Core Set totals around 13.5 CPD hours.
Yes. Clinical directors, responsible officers and medical-education teams can purchase on behalf of doctors. Contact us and we'll explain the process, invoicing and access.
More pathways
Remediation Courses for Other Professions
Registered with a different regulator? Explore the course pathway written for your profession’s standards, or browse the full course library.
Find the Right Course for Your Professional Development
Start with the concern or learning need you want to address. Review the recommended courses, choose the learning relevant to your circumstances, and build evidence of development over time.
IRR Practice is an independent CPD provider. We are not affiliated with, accredited by, or endorsed by the General Medical Council (GMC) or the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS). Our courses provide educational and professional-development content only. Course completion does not guarantee any outcome in a GMC investigation, fitness-to-practise case, MPTS hearing, revalidation process or other regulatory matter. The relevance and weight of any learning evidence depends on the individual circumstances. For case-specific legal or regulatory advice, seek advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
Page content last reviewed against current published GMC guidance: September 2026.
