INTRODUCTION: In Denmark, responsibility for continuing professional development (CPD) of consultants is shared between employers, often represented by heads of department, and the consultants themselves. This interview study explored patterns in the ways that shared responsibility is practiced in the context of financial, organisational and normative structures.

METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were held with 26 consultants holding different levels of experience, including nine heads of department, across four specialties in five hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark in 2019. Recurring themes in the interview data were analysed in the light of critical theory to highlight connections and trade-offs between individuals' choices and structural conditions.

RESULTS: CPD is often a matter of short-term trade-offs for consultants and heads of department. Recurring elements in the trade-offs between what consultants wish to do and what is possible include topics of CPD, funding sources, time and expected learning gains. Governance of CPD varies from pure administration of limited funds to attempts to aligning individual with department priorities.

CONCLUSIONS: Shared responsibility for CPD activities is managed in very diverse ways across departments. The individual flexibility afforded by shared responsibility may be an advantage, but a risk exists that structural conditions for CPD, such as short-term budgets and very different management practices, leave CPD activities to be guided more by coincidence than plan.

FUNDING: none TRIAL REGISTRATION. not relevant.