CPD Programmes Medical Laboratory Scientist
Recertification programmes for Medical Laboratory Scientists
The Council has accredited the following Continual Professional Development (CPD) Programme Providers for Medical Laboratory Scientists:
- New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science (NZIMLS)
- Australasian Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine Inc (AACB)
- New Zealand Hospital Scientific Officer’s Association Inc.
These providers have met the Council’s accreditation standards as set out in the “Standards for Accredited CPD Programme Providers” policy document.
When other providers are granted accreditation, they will be added to the list.
CPD requirements
The last audit conducted by the Council was done in June/July 2024. The current audit runs from 14 July to 5 October 2026.
The current CPD requirements for Medical Laboratory Scientists are listed in the policy as follows:
- Health practitioners must do 40-hours of CPD within each consecutive two-year cycle (biennium).
- At least 15 hours of CPD must be done each year, during a consecutive cycle.
- 24-hours CPD must relate to activities classified as substantive CPD during each biennium
Note: substantive activities have significant intellectual or practical content that is relevant to the scope of practice - for more details about this view the CPD Policy.
CPD and compliance audit
The Council will audit up to 40% of Medical Laboratory Scientists.
Please note the CPD policy will be updated in due course with the recent changes to the CPD cycle.
The audit provides assurance to the public and the Minister of Health that Medical Laboratory Science practitioners are engaging in appropriate CPD, that supports their ongoing competence to practise.
Exemptions
Exemption requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
All requests to be exempted from an audit must be made within 10 working days of being notified that you have been selected for audit. You can email these requests to mscaudit@medsci.co.nz
If you have any queries about the CPD Audit or what to do, view the FAQs under CPD Professional Development (CPD).
Information required for an audit
If you are called for audit in 2026 you will be required to provide the following documentation:
Declarations regarding your employment history, practice and CPD completion during the audit period.
A form is downloadable from the Resources section at the bottom of this page for your peer or manager to complete, confirming your practice has met the requirements during the audit period.
You can upload your own CPD logbook detailing the hours and types of CPD you completed during the audit period, and you will need to provide a summary of the totals.
Provide four reflective statements:
- One must be related to your scope of practice (substantive activities).
- One must be related to ethical practice.
- One must be related to culturally appropriate practice.
- And one additional reflective statement which can be any one of the above three mentioned reflective statements.
Each reflective statement must refer to CPD that you have completed and draw links to your clinical practice. Use the questions below as a guide to writing your reflective statements:
- What have you learnt?
- How has the CPD contributed to your body of knowledge and skills?
- How have you applied this learning to your practice and integrated the knowledge and findings into your practice?
- What further learning could you undertake?
For further information regarding reflective statements, please see the CPD policy (page 11).
Six pieces of evidence for CPD activities you completed during the audit period.
At least four of these documents must be related to substantive CPD activities, and at least one document from each year must be provided.
How to submit your CPD documents for audit
If you have been selected to take part in the audit you can download the 'CPD recertification and logbook' resource below. Enter your details (it includes a drop-down box for you to select the appropriate scope of practice), then save it for sending to us.