Work-Based Learning Credits for the PCS: What Counts and How to Log It

What counts as work-based learning under the 2025 PCS framework?

The Medical Council's Guidelines define the category in one line: "Work-based learning involves doctors' reflection of their clinical and non-clinical work." The Guidelines describe it as "challenging assumptions of everyday practice and critically evaluating practitioners' own responses to practice situations".

So the raw material is work you already do, but the credit rests on what you took from it, not just attendance. The ICGP puts it as "activities that promote a doctor's learning at or through work and which are reflective in nature".

WBL sits alongside Planning CPD (the Professional Development Plan, up to 5 hours), Practice Review (minimum 10 hours for doctors who practise) and Accredited CPD (minimum 20 hours). Hours above a minimum still count towards the 50. The summary sits on our Medical Council CPD requirements page; this guide covers WBL in depth.

The Medical Council's booklet lists more than 25 example activities, from MDTs, Grand Rounds and Schwartz Rounds to teaching, examining, committee work, research, communication training and reflection on wellbeing; the conversion table below works through 20 of them.

The booklet stresses that these lists are indicative, not exhaustive, and that training bodies operating schemes may modify or expand them. In practice that is what the operators have done: RCPI adds "Personal Learning (e.g. journal reading, viewing recorded lectures etc.)", while the ICGP adds locum handover meetings, unaccredited on-demand learning and ICGP roles such as examiner, tutor and GP trainer.

Where your old internal, personal and research/teaching credits went

If you were on a scheme before May 2025, the quickest way to understand WBL is to see what it replaced. The Medical Council says the new category "encompasses aspects of internal, personal and research/teaching CPD", and RCPI's help centre confirms it "includes activities previously categorised under the Internal, Personal Learning and Research or Teaching categories".

*The old minimums are taken from the College of Anaesthesiologists' pre-2025 scheme overview; the 2025 column comes from the Medical Council's key differences document and the ICGP's framework page, which says the audit requirement "has been broadened into a Practice Review category" and that the PDP "used to be an optional activity for internal credits".

Two consequences follow. The separate floors for internal and personal learning have gone, so the 15 WBL hours can come from any mix of activities. And audit now counts within the 50 hours rather than on top of them.

Work-based learning examples: 20 activities converted to credits

This table turns 20 common activities into ePortfolio terms. The hours column gives the operator's published rule where one exists; otherwise it is actual time at 1 hour = 1 credit, the default at the ICGP, RCSI and RCPI. Domain suggestions follow the College of Anaesthesiologists' draft guidance where it gives them and are our own suggestions elsewhere; always choose the domains that genuinely apply to what you learned.

Operator rules: CME small groups; committee meetings and single-handed discussions; PDP peer review and reflection; hours for MDTs, teaching and publications. The CAI document is a consultation draft (Version 2.0): a benchmark, not a rule for other schemes.

How many hours can you claim for each WBL activity?

The Medical Council's Guidelines do not set hours for individual activities, and the operators that publish a rule use the same one: RCSI says "1 hour = 1 CPD credit", the ICGP says that "in general" one hour of activity equals one credit, and RCPI says you can claim 1 CPD credit for every hour of personal learning and for each hour of research and teaching.

Beyond that, four habits keep claims credible:

• Claim real time, not a nominal figure. The CAI draft says hours should reflect actual attendance.
• Watch for operator-specific limits. The Medical Council sets no WBL cap, but operators can. The ICGP's guidance for doctors on leave, for example, credits committee participation at 1 credit per meeting to a maximum of 6 a year.
• Aim for breadth. The CAI draft notes that a doctor whose WBL record contains only one activity type may be asked for further evidence of breadth at its Annual Verification Process. Breadth also helps with the three-year rule explained in our guide to the eight domains of good professional practice.

Work-based learning or practice review? Sorting the borderline activities

Some activities could sit in either category. The Medical Council's Guidelines describe practice review as a process of reviewing evidence about practice and planning improvement (clinical audit, quality improvement and practice evaluation), whereas WBL is reflective learning from work. Where you are unsure whether you need a practice review, the Guidelines say you "must seek advice" from your training body.

The CAI draft is explicit that passive attendance at an M&M meeting "ordinarily" does not qualify as practice review, and that practice review credit needs active participation such as presenting, leading discussion or contributing to the action plan. A workable rule of thumb: if you measured, changed and checked something, it is practice review; if you learned from discussing or observing it, it is WBL. Ideas for activities that do meet the practice review test are in our guide to practice review ideas for the PCS, and our quality improvement and clinical audit course covers the audit and PDSA method if you want to turn a discussion into a full project. Claim each hour of activity once, in one category, unless your operator allocates credits across two categories itself, as the ICGP does for CME small groups.

Evidence that holds up at verification

The legal backbone is in the Medical Council (Maintenance of Professional Competence) Rules 2025. Rule 9 requires you to cooperate with any verification process and to retain evidence of your CPD for the "required period", defined as 6 years from the start of the applicable scheme year; the Council may audit compliance for up to five years after a scheme year ends. The Guidelines add two sentences every doctor should know: CPD "which is not recorded in the electronic platform provided by the Scheme will be disregarded", and at verification "any activity records that are not supported by evidence will not be considered". How the Council's own sample check works, and what follows a shortfall, is explained in our guide to the Medical Council PCS audit and non-compliance.

What counts as good evidence differs between operators, and the differences matter for WBL in particular:

Note the direct conflict over minutes: RCPI rejects them because they may contain confidential information, while the ICGP lists notes or minutes as relevant detail. Follow your own operator. RCSI asks for evidence of attendance to be uploaded to its PCS Portal or a hard copy kept on file for six years.

How to write a WBL reflection: a template you can reuse

No Medical Council document prescribes a WBL reflection format. The most concrete operator model is in the College of Anaesthesiologists' consultation draft, which says a compliant reflective summary "must address all four of the following questions": What was the activity? What did I learn? How will this influence my practice? What is the anticipated impact on patients or the service? It recommends "approximately 150–300 words" and rejects vague statements.

The stronger version is under 100 words yet names a gap, a change and a way of checking. If writing reflection that shows genuine insight is the hard part, our Reflection for Fitness to Practise course works through the Gibbs, Rolfe and Johns models with scenarios. You can browse all our online CPD courses for Irish doctors and health professionals by topic.

Work-based learning when you are part-time, single-handed, not practising or on leave

The Guidelines state: "There are no exemptions for doctors working less than full-time, in a non-clinical role or retired." The ICGP applies the same annual requirements to part-time and locum doctors. What changes is where the WBL comes from.

Doctors joining mid-year have pro-rata totals of 12, 25 or 37 hours for enrolment of under 3, 6 or 9 months.

Mistakes that quietly cost WBL hours

A simple WBL routine for the 2026/27 PCS year

The current scheme year runs from 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2027 under Rule 3 of the MPC Rules. WBL is easiest when it is planned at the start, which is what the Professional Development Plan is for; our PCS development plan guide covers writing it. After that, a light routine keeps the record current:

• List the WBL activities you already do every month (MDTs, rounds, teaching, committees) and decide which will be grouped claims.
• After each meeting worth claiming, write the four-question reflection the same week.
• Check by November that your WBL spans at least three activity types.
• Look at which of the eight domains your three-year record is still missing and choose WBL that fills the gap.
• In February, confirm your WBL total is past 15 hours and your practice review is underway; if you need a structured approach to the year, our Medical Council Practice Review and PDP course covers it.
• Before 30 April 2027, make sure every entry is on the scheme platform with evidence attached.

Checked against the official sources above in October 2026. Rules and fees change, so confirm current requirements with your regulator or scheme.