Case studies
This page has case studies to help doctors trying to find their designated body.
I am a fully registered doctor in foundation or specialty training. Which organisation is my designated body?
- If you are a trainee in England, this is your postgraduate deanery. (This is likely to change in April 2013 when postgraduate deaneries are replaced by local education and training boards).
- If you are a trainee in Scotland, this is NHS Education Scotland
- If you are a trainee in Wales, this is the Wales Deanery
- And if you are a trainee in Northern Ireland, this is the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA)
I am a GP on a performers list. Which organisation is my designated body?
Your designated body is the primary care organisation that manages the performers list you are on.
- In England, this is currently a primary care trust. (Please note: You can only be on one performers list at a time in England). From April 2013, we expect your designated body will change to the NHS Commissioning Board
- In Scotland, this is a health board
- In Wales, this is a health board
- And in Northern Ireland, this is the Health and Social Care Board
I am a doctor who is employed by a university but I also have an honorary contract with an NHS hospital trust. Which organisation is my designated body?
Your designated body is the NHS hospital trust. Universities are not designated bodies, but NHS organisations are. Also, for the purposes of revalidation, your NHS honorary contract is considered to be a contract of employment. So in effect you are employed by the NHS.
I am a doctor who is employed as a consultant in the NHS and also has practising privileges with a private hospital. Which organisation is my designated body?
Your designated body is the NHS organisation. While you work in two organisations, a contract of employment takes priority over your practising privileges for the purposes of your connection for revalidation.
I am a doctor who is employed as a consultant in the NHS for 45% of my practice, and employed as a consultant in an independent/private sector hospital for 55% of my practice. Which organisation is my designated body?
Your designated body is the independent hospital. You are an employee of both organisations, so in this case your connection will be with the organisation where you spend the majority of your practice.
I am a doctor who spends 40% of my practice employed by an NHS hospital and 60% of my practice time as a locum, finding work through locum agencies. Which organisation is my designated body?
Your designated body is the NHS organisation. Even though you practise for most of your time as a locum, your contract of employment takes priority over your other work for the purposes of revalidation. This would still be the case if you spent only 5% of your practice as an NHS employee.
I hold a licence to practise but I work outside of the UK. Which organisation is my designated body?
If you continue to hold your licence to practise while practising abroad, you will need to revalidate. This means you will need to connect to a UK organisation that will support you with your appraisal and revalidation. Only UK organisations can be designated bodies, because the legal rules that determine this only cover the UK.
If you practise entirely outside of the UK, you may not need a licence to practise. You may decide it is better to give it up. You can still keep your registration without a licence, and this will indicate you are in good standing with the GMC. You can apply to have your licence restored if you need it at some point in the future. Find out more about giving up and restoring your licence.
I am self-employed. Which organisation is my designated body?
Your designated body will depend on the way you practise as a self-employed doctor.
If you are an independent GP who is not on any performers list in the UK, then your designated body may be the Independent Doctors Federation if you are a member of this organisation.
If you only have practising privileges at one or more organisations in the independent sector (and you don’t have a contract of employment with any of them or an NHS body), one of these organisations is your designated body. This is probably the organisation at which you practise the most.
If you don’t have practising privileges, your designated body may be an organisation that you belong to as a member. The Faculty of Occupational Health, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and Faculty of Public Health are all designated bodies. So is the Independent Doctors Federation.
If you are not a member of any of the organisations, then you may not be able to connect to a designated body at present. If this is the case, it’s important we know who you are and how you practise so we can help you further. Please go to GMC Online, click on the ‘My revalidation’ tab and use the ‘I don’t have a designated body’ button. We will then ask you for some information about your role. This will help us provide you with more advice.
I believe I don’t have a connection to a designated body. What should I do?
Most doctors have a designated body but some don’t.
If you have read our case studies and used our online tool and you believe you don’t have a designated body, we want you to tell us using GMC Online.
Please visit the ‘My revalidation’ area in your GMC Online account to confirm you don’t have a designated body. We will ask you for some information about your practice.
Our supplementary online tool provides information and advice to doctors who don’t have a connection to a designated body.