How to Ensure a Similar Mistake or Misconduct Will Not Be Repeated in Future

About this course

Almost every professional who has made a mistake or faced a concern sincerely intends it never to happen again. Yet regulators, employers and patients cannot rely on intentions alone, and experience shows that well-meant promises often fade once the pressure of an investigation passes. This module focuses on one question that sits at the heart of fitness to practise decisions and safe practice: how can you, and others, be confident that a similar mistake or misconduct will not be repeated?

The module draws on UK regulatory guidance, patient safety science and behaviour change research. It explains how regulators assess the risk of repetition, why errors and misconduct recur, which safeguards actually work, and how to tailor prevention to clinical errors, medication incidents, record-keeping, dishonesty, boundary breaches, conduct outside work and health concerns. You will build a personal recurrence prevention plan, learn how to demonstrate that change is real and tested, and consider how to sustain it across a whole career. It complements, rather than repeats, modules on reflection, insight and remediation by concentrating on the forward-looking question of future risk.

CPD Value and How to Record It:

This course is designed to provide approximately 3 hours of learning, including reading, the reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. In the UK, CPD is generally recorded as the time actually spent learning, so you should record the time you genuinely spend, which may be more or less than the estimate.

How the course fits your revalidation or CPD requirements depends on your regulator. For example, the NMC asks nurses, midwives and nursing associates to record 35 hours of CPD over three years, of which at least 20 must be participatory; self-directed online learning such as this course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others. The GMC expects doctors to reflect on CPD for appraisal and revalidation rather than setting a fixed number of hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and GCC each set their own CPD requirements, so check the current rules that apply to you. Always keep your certificate together with your written reflection.

What you will learn

• Explain how UK regulators and tribunals assess the risk that a concern will be repeated.
• Describe why errors and misconduct recur, using human factors and behavioural evidence.
• Select stronger safeguards using the hierarchy of intervention effectiveness and behaviour change principles.
• Tailor recurrence prevention to different types of clinical, conduct and health concern.
• Build a personal recurrence prevention plan with triggers, warning signs and planned responses.
• Demonstrate, with objective and independent evidence, that a repeat is highly unlikely, and sustain change over time.

Who this course is for

Doctors, nurses, midwives, nursing associates, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals, social workers and other UK registrants who have been involved in an incident, complaint or concern, and the supervisors, appraisers and managers who support them.

Social workers: this cross-profession course covers principles that apply across health and social care; most worked examples come from healthcare settings.

Course content

11 sections · 3 CPD hours · 15 MCQs

Course facts

CPD value

Approximately 3 hours of learning, including reflection and assessment

Format

Self-paced reading with practice cases, a worked recurrence prevention plan, comparison tables, reflective prompts and a written reflective account

Standards covered

The regulatory test of risk of repetition; NMC guidance on whether a concern has been addressed; MPTS guidance (2025); PSIRF, LFPSE and the Never Events framework; human factors and behaviour change science; the professional and statutory duties of candour

Assessment

15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions; pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%)

Questions about this course