Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who is deciding which doctors will revalidate first, and how is this decision being made?
The delivery boards, run by the health departments in each of the four UK countries, are taking forward the development of revalidation implementation plans for 2012/13 and beyond within a set of high level principles set by the UK Revalidation Programme Board. The development of these national plans (and SHA cluster plans in England) will be supported by planning at individual designated body level.
Who can undertake appraisal and will you provide standard training for appraisers?
We have not set any requirements for how appraisals should be delivered or who should be an appraiser. However, the four health departments of the UK (and the agencies that may be supporting them in their countries) can provide responsible officers and appraisers with access to guidance, training and other types of support.
The NHS Revalidation Support Team, which is supporting the delivery of revalidation in England on behalf of the Department of Health, is organising training for appraisers and also providing guidance to help responsible officers train and support appraisers. You can find out more on the RST’s website.
What further guidance will you be providing and when will this be available?
We have already published two sets of guidance: our framework for appraisal, which is based on Good Medical Practice, and our supporting information guidance.
We will be issuing guidance in the summer of 2012 to help responsible officers make recommendations about doctors. Before revalidation begins, we will also issue our formal revalidation guidance for doctors to accompany our regulations.
We are also developing additional material to accompany our supporting information guidance. We will not be changing this guidance. But we will publish extra resources, such as case studies, to help doctors, appraisers and responsible officers understand and implement this guidance.
What happens if there is a conflict of interest between a doctor and their responsible officer?
The responsible officer regulations state that a designated body must appoint a second responsible officer where there is a conflict of interest that affects the ability of the responsible officer to make an independent assessment about a doctor's fitness to practise.
The health department in your country should be able to give you more advice about dealing with conflicts of interest. We do not have any guidance or advice on what constitutes a conflict of interest. However, all doctors, including responsible officers, should bear in mind the principles of honesty and openness that are set out in the Probity section of our core guidance, Good Medical Practice.
What if I'm not confident that I can make a positive recommendation about a doctor?
If you are not confident you have sufficient information to make a positive recommendation about a doctor, you can make a request to defer your recommendation.
You can request a deferral where a doctor is engaging or willing to engage in appraisal but, for legitimate reasons, has not yet produced enough supporting information. The doctor’s licence to practise will be unaffected during the deferral period.
Reasons for requesting a deferral may include where a doctor has been on parental leave, unwell, or working abroad for a period of time during the revalidation cycle. You will be able to request different lengths of deferral depending on the situation.
If a doctor cannot provide enough supporting information because they have not engaged in appraisal, you will be able to advise us of their non-engagement. This will be the third type of recommendation you can make at the point that a doctor’s revalidation is due. It should be made as soon as you are certain the doctor is not engaging in the processes to support revalidation, rather than waiting until the doctor’s revalidation recommendation is due to be submitted.
We are developing guidance to help responsible officers make recommendations about doctors, and we expect to publish this in the summer of 2012.
Contact us
If you need further advice or help with revalidation, please: