FAQs - General questions about revalidation
Last updated: 1 March 2010
Questions on this page
- 1. What is revalidation?
- 2. What is the purpose of revalidation?
- 3. Isn't revalidation really all about catching the next Harold Shipman?
- 4. Is it going to mean a huge burden of additional bureaucracy for the profession and the NHS?
- 5. Do I have to take part in revalidation?
- 6. How will revalidation work?
- 7. I have heard people talking about revalidation, relicensing and recertification. What's the difference?
- 8. How often will I need to revalidate?
More information can be found on our revalidation page.
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1. What is revalidation?
Revalidation is the process by which doctors will have to demonstrate to the GMC, normally every five years, that they are up to date and fit to practise and complying with the relevant professional standards.
2. What is the purpose of revalidation?
The purpose of revalidation is to assure patients, employers and other healthcare professionals that licensed doctors are up-to-date and are practising to the appropriate professional standards.
Revalidation is a new way of regulating the medical profession that will provide a focus for doctors' efforts to maintain and improve their practice; facilitate the organisations in which doctors work to support them in keeping their practice up to date; and encourage patients and the public to provide feedback about the medical care they receive from doctors. In these ways, revalidation will contribute to the ongoing improvement in the quality of medical care delivered to patients throughout the UK.
3. Isn't revalidation really all about catching the next Harold Shipman?
This is a common misconception. Revalidation is not about responding to the case of Harold Shipman. Instead, it is one of several mechanisms intended to contribute to improvements in the quality of care by giving focus to doctors' efforts to keep up to date and improve their practice.
4. Is it going to mean a huge burden of additional bureaucracy for the profession and the NHS?
Revalidation is really the by-product of having effective local systems for clinical governance developed to meet the needs of the NHS and other healthcare providers. As such, it will be based on elements that most doctors are already familiar with as part of their work, such as annual appraisal and audit. Work needs to be done to ensure that these local mechanisms are sufficiently robust, but by building on arrangements that are already in place we aim to minimise additional burdens.
5. Do I have to take part in revalidation?
If you are a doctor holding registration with a licence to practise will have to participate in revalidation.
6. How will revalidation work?
Revalidation will be based on a local evaluation of doctors' performance against national standards approved by the GMC.
Doctors will be expected to participate in a process of annual appraisal in the workplace which will include an evaluation of each doctor's performance against the relevant standards.
Doctors will need to maintain a folder or portfolio of information drawn from their practice to show how they are meeting the required standards. Because each doctor's practice is different, the information they collect will vary. The information collected in their portfolio will provide the basis for discussion at their annual appraisal.
To revalidate a doctor the GMC will require assurance that he or she is meeting the required standards and that there are no known concerns about the doctor's practice. In most cases, this revalidation recommendation will come to the GMC via the local Responsible Officer. The Responsible Officer will usually be a senior, licensed doctor in the healthcare organisation where the doctor works. For GPs the Responsible Officer is likely to be from the primary care organisation on whose performers list they are included.
The Responsible Officer will make a recommendation to the GMC about a doctor's revalidation, normally every five years. This will be based on the doctor's appraisals over this period, together with information derived from local clinical governance processes.
Although the Responsible Officer will make the recommendation, it will be for the GMC to decide whether the doctor concerned should be revalidated.
More detailed information on our proposals and plans about how revalidation might work in practice is available in our consultation, Revalidation: a way forward.
7. I have heard people talking about revalidation, relicensing and recertification. What's the difference?
There is no difference. When the Government published its proposals for revalidation in 2007, it divided revalidation into two elements - relicensing and recertification. We are now proposing a single system of revalidation.
Since the government published its proposals, considerable work has been undertaken to develop the standards and processes to support both elements of revalidation. This work has involved the GMC, the medical Royal Colleges and Faculties, specialist associations and others. As a result of this work, we have concluded that revalidation will be simpler, more effective and more efficient if it operates as a single set of processes rather than as the two separate strands of relicensing and recertification that were originally envisaged.
8. How often will I need to revalidate?
For most doctors, revalidation will operate on a five year cycle. That is to say, the GMC will normally require confirmation every five years from your Responsible Officer that you are practising to the appropriate professional standards and that there are no significant unresolved concerns about your practice.
However, the GMC has powers to vary the periods between revalidations. The following are some examples of situations where that might happen.
a) If the supporting information you submit to demonstrate your practice is not sufficient, we may decide to postpone your revalidation date for a short period to allow you to assemble further information about your practice. You would retain your licence to practise in the meantime.
b) If the supporting information you submit to demonstrate your practise is not recent, you may be given an earlier date for your next revalidation. Doctors will be expected to provide up to date supporting information at their appraisals for revalidation to demonstrate their current practice.
c) If you have been out of medical practice for more than five years you will be expected to revalidate within two years of returning to work. More information about this is contained in the section of the FAQs dealing with breaks in service.
d) Where there have been concerns about a doctor's practice which have not resulted in the withdrawal of the doctor's licence to practise (for example, if a warning has been issued under our fitness to practise procedures), the next revalidation date may be brought forward.
The approach we take to varying a revalidation date must balance the circumstances of the individual doctor with the need to provide public assurance that the doctor is up to date and fit to practise.