About Us
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is the professional membership body for family doctors in the UK and overseas, bringing together more than 55,000 GPs worldwide. We are committed to improving patient care, clinical standards and GP training. We support GPs throughout their professional lives to deliver the best possible service.
Developing your clinical and professional confidence
The College provides an array of learning opportunities for GPs at all stages of their career. With over 180,000 users accessing our online learning environment and about 10,000 monthly visits, our eLearning programme continues to be one of the most popular resources offered by the College based on the annual membership surveys. In addition to RCGP members, the intended audience for our eLearning materials includes GP Specialty Trainees, GP Educators and other primary healthcare professionals.
Our materials, created by GPs for GPs, are written to reflect UK practice. The eLearning resources span the entire RCGP curriculum and more, covering both clinical and non-clinical subjects and often responding to topical and emerging issues in primary care.
Our eLearning resources
RCGP eLearning resources can be accessed at any time to fit around your schedule. You can choose from a wide array of delivery modes to suit your preference, for example: complete an entire course, explore a dedicated hub, or dip in and out of podcasts and five-minute screencasts while on-the-go.
- Over 150 peer-reviewed courses: All our courses go through a peer-review process and quality assurance checks to ensure they are of the highest quality. Our course content is regularly reviewed, and the courses include pre- and post-assessment questionnaires to help you to measure your learning. Course lengths vary from 15 minutes to a few hours, and learners are issued with a downloadable certificate upon successful course completion.
- Five Minutes to Change your Practice (CyP) screencasts: Shortlisted for the Best eLearning/Online Education Initiative award at the Memcom 2023 Excellence Awards, CyPs offer bite-sized video-format learning in five minutes on current topics, providing one or two ideas to change your practice and improve patient outcomes. Released monthly and as part of various courses.
- The popular RCGP eLearning Podcast: With over 100 podcasts on various subjects, this channel is perfect for on-the-go learning, with episodes averaging 20 minutes. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Castbox and Deezer, or subscribe to our eLearning Podcast RSS feed.
- RCGP Learning Blog: Published monthly, the RCGP Learning Blog provides short summaries on topical matters in primary care.
- 10-in-10: This new learning format gives you what you need to know about a topic in ten clicks. Awarded the Memcom Highly Commended Award 2024 for Best Education Initiative, 10-in-10 is accompanied by a reflection sheet for adding your notes.
- New Useful Bits (NUBs): These quick-reference guides focus on the key points around a subject, emphasising the relevant points in national/international guidelines, especially those recently updated and applicable to general practice. NUBs are concise and clear.
- RCGP Consultation Microsites: These practical case study modules accompany patients on their journey with an illness or condition, providing interactive exploration of presentation, diagnosis and management of illnesses, requiring you to apply theory to individual clinical situations in primary care.
- Essential Knowledge Update (EKU) programme: With new resources released on a rolling basis, EKU programme topics are driven by RCGP members. Presented in various learning modes, explore the EKU programme for the latest topical discussions in primary care. Exclusive to RCGP members.
- Learning Hubs: These hubs bring together eLearning resources on specific topics in one centralised place, featuring standard eLearning modules, bite-sized learning such as Five minutes to Change your Practice screencasts, podcasts, webinars, patient journey microsites and other additional resources.
- Libraries, pathways and toolkits: Developed for GPs at various career stages and other healthcare professionals, these resources cover different topics to support you in your learning journey.
- GP SelfTest: The RCGP’s feature-packed learning needs assessment application with 3,000 questions for GPs at all career stages, from those preparing for the MRCGP AKT to those preparing for annual appraisals. GP SelfTest is free for RCGP members and GP registrar members or can be purchased by non-members.
Awards we’ve received
In 2024, the RCGP eLearning team achieved a Memcom Highly Commended Award 2024 for Best Education Initiative for the newly launched, ’10 in 10’ eLearning resource. According to the team:
"Development of the innovative ’10 in 10’ product has added to the repertoire of learning formats offered by the RCGP, hitting the niche of intermediate-length, portable and interactive learning which we have not seen from any other GP education provider. Unique in style, it offers a new way for GPs to develop their skills on the move and in the context of time pressures. It helps them keep abreast of updates and developments in existing practice – critical for quality patient care – and meet the appraisal and revalidation requirements for CPD and learning outcomes."
In 2017, the RCGP eLearning team won Silver in 'Best learning technologies project – UK public and non-profit sector' category at the Learning Technologies Awards. The judges awarded the Online Learning Environment stating “this (RCGP eLearning Platform) is an excellent, valuable and behavioural shifting free resource available with a smart and effective approach to CPD.”
Additionally, our Five Minutes to Change your Practice screencasts were shortlisted for the Best E-learning / Online Education Initiative award at the Memcom 2023 Excellence Awards.
eLearning as an RCGP membership benefit
All RCGP eLearning resources are free for RCGP members. Click the Log in button on our online learning environment to enter your RCGP login details and access our eLearning offerings.
Not a member yet? Find information about our membership options and how to join RCGP, your professional home.
Resubscribe to our mailing list to receive our regular CPD and learning bulletin, which provides a round-up of the latest opportunities.
Non-members can purchase access to our learning resources except for the EKU programme, which is exclusive to RCGP members. To get started, register for a free basic account with RCGP. Once your registration is confirmed, use the same login details to access the eLearning site. Where applicable, you will be prompted to purchase a resource.
About the team
The eLearning materials on this site are developed and badged by the experienced eLearning team at the RCGP. Since 2008, the team has developed and published a range of high-quality RCGP online courses and certifications to support CPD and revalidation.
The RCGP eLearning team are:
- Dr Annemarie O'Dwyer (PhD), Head of eLearning
- Sabeen Altaf, eLearning and Relationship Manager
Clinicians:
- Dr Toni Hazell, GP and Deputy Medical Director: eLearning
- Dr Emma Nash, GP and eLearning Development Fellow
- Dr Dirk Pilat, GP and Medical Director for Professional Development
External projects:
- Sophie Cant, Senior eLearning Technologist
- Hanna Soini, eLearning Technologist
Internal projects:
- Simon Sherry, Operations Manager: eLearning
- Jahangir Ahmed, eLearning Experience and Development Specialist
- Astrid Ehui, eLearning Project Officer
- Katie Hopkins, eLearning Technologist
- Ellyna Spatchet, eLearning Technologist
Technical team:
- Damian Bardiger, Technical Product Manager
- Shubhendra Doiphode, Moodle Web Developer
The RCGP GP SelfTest team:
- Dr Ciaran Conway, GP and GP SelfTest Clinical Lead
- Dr Emma Nash, GP and GP SelfTest Clinical Lead
- Jonathan Stafford, GP SelfTest Project Officer
If you are interested in working with RCGP eLearning to develop online CPD resources, please contact eLearning and Relationship Manager, Sabeen Altaf. To find out more about our eLearning offer, please contact eLearning Helpdesk.