Would you pass the HCPC audit if it landed in your inbox tomorrow?
Every registration cycle, a small percentage of radiographers are selected for audit.
The difference between passing or failing usually comes down to one thing: how well you’ve evidenced your CPD.
This step-by-step guide turns audit panic into a simple, repeatable process.
Most people assume CPD “counts” only if it’s a formal course. Not true.
HCPC accepts a wide range of learning as long as you record it:
- Courses and study days
- In-service training and audits
- Journal clubs, webinars, conferences
- Teaching/mentoring, case discussions
- On-shift learning moments (e.g., a complex case that changed how you practise)
Action: Open your calendar, email and downloads folder. Pull out every learning touchpoint from this cycle.
A list isn’t enough. Your evidence should answer:
What did I learn?
How did it change my practice?
How did it benefit patient care or service quality?
Without this reflection, you risk failing the audit even with a long list of activities.
All courses on our CPD platform contain a built in reflection template.
Think of your CPD portfolio like a folder you could hand to HCPC tomorrow.
Keep certificates together (PDFs named YYYY-MM-DD_Activity_Title.pdf)
- Label dates clearly
- Store a reflection with each activity
- Add a contents page and a summary of learning for the cycle
Using our Free CPD Resources built by NHS Radiographers will help with this. Download here.
HCPC looks for quality, not just quantity. For each piece of evidence, check you can show that your learning is:
- Relevant to current or future practice
- Recorded properly (dates, description, reflection)
- Applied you can point to changes in practice and impact on patients/service
Tip: Add a line at the end of each reflection: “HCPC standards met:” and note the relevant ones. This makes audit review fast and obvious.
Here are the HCPC Standards listed below
Most radiographers who struggle are caught off guard. When you keep up little-and-often:
- Capturing evidence takes minutes, not hours
- Reflections are fresher (and better)
- You walk into an audit with zero stress
Five-minute monthly routine:
- Add this month’s learning to your logbook
- Write one short reflection
- Attach any evidence (slides/certificates/notes)
- Update your contents page
- Tag the HCPC standards met
Weak evidence:
“Attended chest image optimisation session. Was useful.”
Strong evidence:
“Chest image optimisation workshop (14/03/2025) Learned updated exposure parameters for bariatric patients and positioning adaptations for limited mobility. Change: adopted new PA projection routine with clear instruction set for anxious patients. Impact: reduced repeats in bariatric chest X-rays by ~20% over four weeks; patients reported clearer communication. Standards met: relevance, application to practice, impact on service.”
Don’t wait for an audit to realise you’ve got nothing new to show. Start capturing evidence today and make being audit-ready your default.
Stagnation doesn’t show up overnight it creeps in quietly, and suddenly you’re the same radiographer you were three years ago.
Your HCPC audit’s coming up… and so is the question: what’s changed?
Be prepared. Be confident. Be audit-ready.
