Guide

CPD points: what the HPCSA actually requires, and how to earn them

Q: Are CPD points still valid for 24 months?

No — under the HPCSA guidelines as revised in December 2024, CEUs have a 12-month shelf life from the activity date, and no retrospective accreditation. Many provider pages still describe the older 60-per-24-months framing; the current HPCSA guidelines are authoritative.

Q: How do I check my CPD points?

On the HPCSA practitioner self-service portal at practitioners.hpcsa.co.za. Accredited providers submit attendance directly to the HPCSA, so points should appear automatically — check quarterly.

Q: What if an activity's points never show up?

Start with the service provider that ran the activity — under the post-2022 model they hold and submit the attendance register the HPCSA works from. Keep your own record of what you attended.

Q: What happens if I'm non-compliant?

Your name goes to your professional board, which can impose supervised practice, require a board exam, or suspend you from the register until you prove compliance. Enforcement sharpened in 2025 after the HPCSA reported only about a third of medical-board registrants were compliant as of August 2024.

Every practising doctor owes the HPCSA 30 CEUs a year — and the rules changed meaningfully in the December 2024 revision. Here's the current system: who must comply, what counts, what doesn't, and the ways SA doctors actually collect their points.

Last updated 4 July 2026This page follows the HPCSA's CPD guidelines for registered practitioners as revised December 2024 (Version 5, circulated January 2025). CEU values, deadlines and enforcement practice change — confirm against the current guidelines on the HPCSA website and your own status on the practitioner portal.

We summarise publicly documented facts in our own words and cite the source, so always confirm the current details with the primary source before you rely on them. See our methodology.

The requirement, in one paragraph

A registered medical practitioner must earn 30 CEUs (continuing education units) in every 12-month period: at least 25 clinical and at least 5 for ethics, human rights or health law — and both components count independently, so 30 clinical CEUs with no ethics still leaves you non-compliant. Each CEU has a 12-month shelf life from the date of the activity, after which it expires. That validity rule is the big recent change: the December 2024 revision of the HPCSA guidelines halved the old 24-month window, and plenty of provider pages — including SAMA’s CPD page — still describe the legacy “60 CEUs per 24 months” framing. When in doubt, the current HPCSA guidelines win.

Who must comply — and when it starts

Not everyone: practitioners on the student, intern and community-service registers are exempt (though encouraged to participate — CEUs you earn can accrue), and the current guidelines’ registrar section reads the same way for registrars in training — though its drafting is loose, so if you’re a registrar, confirm your status with the HPCSA. The duty starts when you first register in a category that must comply — for most doctors, that’s independent practice after community service. From that point the expectation is continuous: the old random-sample audit model is gone, replaced by an always-on view of your compliance.

How the system works now (post-2022)

Since 2022 the administration flipped from practitioner to provider: accredited CPD providers submit attendance directly to the HPCSA after each activity, points load onto your profile automatically, and CPD certificates are no longer mandatory. Your two jobs are to check your status on the practitioner portal (practitioners.hpcsa.co.za) and to chase the service provider — not the HPCSA — when an activity’s points don’t appear. Keep your own attendance log for exactly that conversation.

What earns points (and how many)

Level 1: everyday activities — 1 CEU per hour

Conferences, symposia, refresher courses, formally arranged teaching ward rounds, case discussions, morbidity & mortality meetings and ethics workshops earn 1 CEU per hour, capped at 8 CEUs a day — and presenters earn double.
Journal MCQs: 1 CEU per 5 questions at a 70% pass mark, capped at 3 CEUs per journal volume. Online modules: 1 CEU per notional hour, capped at 6 a day.
Academic extras stack up fast: principal author of a peer-reviewed publication 15 CEUs (co-author 5), principal congress presenter 10, guest lecture 3 — and supervising students or interns earns 2 CEUs per student (max 16 a year) where it’s not already in your job description.
What earns nothing: routine daily ward rounds, admin meetings, professional-body membership itself, and pharma marketing meetings.

Level 2: structured learning — the big-ticket route

A postgraduate degree, diploma or certificate recognised by your board earns 30 CEUs per year of study (on submitting an academic progress report) plus another 30 on completion — which means a CMSA diploma year effectively covers your entire CPD requirement while also building your registrar CV. Accredited short courses of 25+ hours with hands-on training and assessment earn 30 CEUs; shorter assessed courses earn 1 CEU per hour. This is where the short-course layer double-pays — ATLS South Africa, for instance, advertises 50 CPD points on its fee page (provider-listed allocations are what the accreditor approved for that activity; your portal record is the final word).

Where SA doctors actually collect their points

Free online platforms: deNovo Medica — free, accredited via the University of Pretoria, up to 3 points per module across 40+ topics.
Your indemnity membership: Medical Protection members get CEU-accredited e-learning included — short courses on medicolegal issues, professionalism and ethics — one of the easiest ways to cover the 5 ethics CEUs most doctors leave until last.
Journal questionnaires: the SAMJ’s CPD programme (administered through Medical Practice Consulting’s platform) and similar journal MCQs — up to 3 CEUs per volume.
Conferences with CPD administration: Discovery has run a free CPD administration service at medical conferences since 2004 with MyCPD — badge scans log your session attendance automatically.
SAMA membership: SAMA’s CPD portal offers members online CPD articles, a CPD events calendar and congress attendance certificates — SAMA is also one of the bodies appointed to accredit CPD activities.
Catch-up options: paid subscription quiz platforms (e.g. MYCPD) can cover the full annual requirement via article quizzes, and structured online courses like EMGuidance Academy’s FPD-certified ethics course (9 points; pricing on enquiry) fill specific gaps.

Non-compliance is no longer theoretical

If you fall short, your name goes to your professional board, which may place you on supervised practice, require a board examination, or suspend you from the register until you prove compliance. And enforcement has real teeth now: MedicalBrief reported that only about a third of Medical and Dental Board registrants were CPD-compliant as of August 2024, and the HPCSA set compliance deadlines through 2025 with warnings of disciplinary action — while practising while suspended is a criminal offence and can void indemnity cover.

A low-stress plan

Thirty CEUs a year is about 2.5 a month. Bank the 5 ethics CEUs early in the cycle (an indemnity e-learning module or an accredited ethics course does it in a weekend), let conferences and any accredited courses you were doing anyway carry the clinical load, top up with journal MCQs or a free platform in quiet months — and check the portal quarterly so nothing expires unnoticed under the 12-month rule.

Frequently asked questions

Do interns and community-service doctors need CPD points?

No — practitioners on the student, intern or community-service registers don’t have to comply with CPD, and the current guidelines’ registrar section is generally read the same way for registrars in training (its drafting is loose — confirm if that’s you). You’re encouraged to attend activities anyway (the CEUs can accrue), and the duty starts when you first register in a category that must comply — for most doctors, independent practice after community service.

Are CPD points still valid for 24 months?

No — this changed. Under the HPCSA’s guidelines as revised in December 2024, CEUs have a 12-month shelf life from the date of the activity, and activities can’t be accredited retrospectively. Many provider pages (including SAMA’s CPD page) still describe the older 60-CEUs-per-24-months framing — treat the current HPCSA guidelines as authoritative.

How do I check my CPD points?

On the HPCSA’s practitioner self-service portal at practitioners.hpcsa.co.za. Since accredited providers submit attendance directly to the HPCSA, your points should appear there without you uploading certificates — check quarterly rather than discovering a gap when a board letter arrives.

What if an activity's points never show up?

Start with the service provider that ran the activity — under the post-2022 model they hold (and submit) the attendance register the HPCSA works from. Keep your own record of what you attended (dates, provider, activity name) so you can chase specifics.

What happens if I'm non-compliant?

Your name goes to your professional board, which can change your registration to supervised practice, require a board exam, or suspend you from the register until you prove compliance. Enforcement has sharpened — in 2025 the HPCSA publicly warned non-compliant practitioners after reporting that only about a third of the medical board’s registrants were compliant as of August 2024. This is no longer a paper tiger.

Related guides & next steps

Sources: HPCSA Continuing Professional Development (CPD guidelines for registered practitioners) · HPCSA practitioner self-service portal (CPD compliance status) · SAMA CPD (events, online articles & accreditation) · Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) · Accessed 4 July 2026. Always confirm the current details with the primary source.

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