CPD accreditation of events
"We are delighted about our approval and we are certain that this will increase our attendance."
This page provides full details about how we award CPD event accreditation. It includes a Diary of all currently accredited events and an online application form.
Click below to view the Diary of events which have been CPD accredited by the College.
The benefits of CPD event accreditation
There are multiple benefits in receiving CPD event accreditation by the College:
- CPD event accreditation is only given after a two-stage review process, including a technical content check by a clinician CPD Assessor, has been completed.
- Accredited events are featured in the College’s Lifelong Learning Platform and in the Diary of events on this webpage. You can add a direct link for further information about your event to the Diary entry.
- The College’s “Accredited” logo (being relaunched on 1 August 2026) can be used on your advertisements, programmes and participant certificates as a quality assurance mark, and you can use the strapline: “Accredited by the Royal College of Anaesthetists for up to X number of CPD credits”.
- You can map your CPD events to the Framework of CPD Skills and the accreditation process is based on guidance set by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Submitting an application
Applications are strongly encouraged at least eight weeks ahead of your event taking place. If an application is submitted in a shorter timeframe, we cannot guarantee that the review will get completed before the event starts. We will not review applications received less than two weeks before the event date or applications for retrospective CPD accreditation.
Please read our guidance for event providers before submitting an application. The diagram below also shows how the new process will work from 1 August 2026.
The application fee
From 1 August 2026, we will charge the fee denoted in the table below. This is payable when you submit your application and relates to your organisation’s category.
| Type of organisation | Application fee | Payment method |
| Category 1 – commercial. | TBC | You will be invoiced and payment must be made by bank transfer. |
| Category 2 – non-commercial with an income stream which is defined as either participants paying a fee to attend or to access the learning material, or if financial support to deliver the event has been provided from one or more sponsors. Sponsorship can include payment of expenses such as for food or travel, covering the cost of the administration for the event or for producing delegate packs etc. | £100.00 | Payment must be made by Stripe (a link will be sent) once the application has been received. |
| Category 3 – non-commercial with zero income stream as per the Category 2 criteria. | Nil | N/A. |
Our application fees are subject to change and you will need to specify your organisation type when submitting your CPD event accreditation application. If you are delivering more than one version of an identical event within a 12-month period, i.e. the programme and the faculty members remain the same, only one application fee will apply.
Please note that your fee must be paid within seven days from applying and we won’t start our review process until payment is received. It is important to note that fees are not refundable if we decline your application, so please make sure you read the above guidance for event providers and meet the criteria we’ve described.
Click below to apply for CPD accreditation of your event.
CPD event accreditation FAQs
Historically, there has been significant financial investment made into the Lifelong Learning Platform and the CPD event accreditation applications process. The fees received will continue to support this essential and ongoing work and help ensure that we can continue to deliver a robust, fair and high-quality accreditation service.
No, there will be no change or charge to all events which have already been applied for before 1 August, and CPD accredited.
The review process usually takes 2-3 weeks; however, we cannot guarantee this in busier periods. This is why we recommend that applications should be submitted at least eight weeks ahead of the event taking place.
Yes, although there are some rules for events being held outside of the UK. Consideration will only be given if a UK-based organisation is hosting the event or has made a significant contribution to its development. In addition, and as previously, consideration for events being held outside of the UK can only be given if it can be demonstrated that the event will be catering for a specialist audience and has content of such a specialist nature that UK-based doctors would travel there specifically to attend.
Yes, we have a category of 'virtual CPD' for these event types and accreditation is available although this will be conditional on the virtual events featuring some form of interactive learning – e.g. the opportunity for participants to be able to directly ask questions of the faculty either at the end of each of their sessions and/or in a scheduled round-up session or panel discussion at the end.
Could you be a CPD Assessor?
We welcome applications from Consultants and SAS doctors interested in acting as a CPD Assessor. Full support is provided by the College CPD Team, and the team also sends each CPD Assessor an annual report detailing the event reviews they have completed, for use in their own CPD portfolios. For further information please visit the Get involved section of our website.
The video below shows how CPD event applications are reviewed including the role of the CPD Assessor.
We have also accepted some additional doctors onto some of our transfer courses from outside of our region so your Diary of events is certainly supporting them.