Criteria for notifications of non-engagement

This page is in Section 4: Criteria for revalidation recommendations - part of the GMC's guide for responsible officers on making revalidation recommendations.

These criteria describe the circumstances in which you, as a responsible officer (RO), can notify the GMC of a doctor’s failure to engage with revalidation.

These criteria apply only to the licensed doctors for whom you are the RO. You cannot make a recommendation about a doctor if you are not their RO.

The ways in which doctors will have a prescribed connection to a designated body are set out in the Responsible Officer regulations 2010.

To submit a notification of non-engagement in revalidation, you must be satisfied that the following criteria have been met. These are reflected in the statements that you must agree when you submit a notification of non-engagement to the GMC:

• the doctor has not engaged in appraisal or other activities designed to support a revalidation recommendation

• you do not have, and do not anticipate having, sufficient information on which to base a recommendation about the medical practitioner’s revalidation

• you have assured yourself that the doctor does not meet the criteria for a deferral of a recommendation about their revalidation

• the doctor has been provided with sufficient opportunity and support to engage with revalidation, but has failed to do so - based on information available to you, you do not believe that there are extenuating circumstances which fully account for their failure to engage

• all reasonable local processes have been exhausted in attempts to rectify the doctor’s failure to engage

• where applicable, you have notified the GMC of any outstanding concerns about the fitness to practise of the doctor

• as a consequence of their non-engagement, you cannot envisage being able to recommend the doctor for revalidation by the date the recommendation is due.

Informing the GMC of non-engagement

A notification of non-engagement is a formal recommendation to the GMC about a doctor’s revalidation. As a recommendation, a notification forms the basis of the GMC’s decision about a doctor’s revalidation.

Notifications of non-engagement can only be made once the doctor has been issued notice, stating that a recommendation about their revalidation is due.

Informing the GMC before a recommendation is due

While notifications cannot be submitted before the GMC has issued notice, as an RO you can inform the GMC that a doctor has failed to participate in the local processes that underpin revalidation at any time.

If you inform the GMC that a doctor is failing to engage, before the doctor has been issued notice, this sits outside of the formal revalidation process as described in the General Medical Council (Licence to Practise and Revalidation) Regulations 2012.

Informing the GMC that a doctor is failing to engage in revalidation, before a recommendation is due, enable you as an RO to:

• flag that a doctor has failed to engage in the local systems and processes that underpin revalidation

• consequently, you do not anticipate being able to make a positive recommendation about the doctor’s revalidation when it is due.

How does the GMC respond to notifications of non-engagement?

A notification of non-engagement can potentially result in the GMC withdrawing a doctor’s licence to practise, through the existing processes for administrative removal.

There are a number of steps involved from receipt of a notification of non-engagement, to a doctor’s licence being withdrawn:

• the RO submits notification of non-engagement as their recommendation on or before the submission date

• the GMC begins the process of administratively removing the doctor’s licence to practise (revalidation does not create a new process for removing a doctor’ licence to practise - rather, failure to participate in revalidation provides an additional circumstance in which a doctor’s licence can be administratively removed)

• the doctor is informed that the GMC is minded to withdraw their licence to practise, and has 28 days in which to make representations to the GMC if they wish to appeal.

Before submitting a notification of non-engagement, you may wish to discuss any concerns that you have about a doctor’s revalidation with the GMC Employer Liaison Advisers (ELA) for your area. This may be helpful where, for example, you would like clarification about the responsibilities of individual doctors in revalidation, and those of the RO.

When is a notification appropriate?

It is for you to determine whether there are reasonable circumstances behind a doctor’s failure to engage in local processes and systems that support revalidation, and whether it is appropriate to notify the GMC of his or her non-engagement.

You should refer to the GMC’s criteria for deferral requests to ensure that your notifications of non-engagement are robust.

Maintaining a prescribed connection

The Licence to Practise and Revalidation Regulations 2012 state that doctors must ‘take reasonable steps’ to arrange a recommendation about their revalidation.

In practice this means that doctors must identify whether they have a prescribed connection to a designated body, and liaise with you, as their RO, when required for revalidation.

Participation in systems and processes that support revalidation

 For revalidation licensed doctors must:

• participate in annual appraisals with Good Medical Practice at their core, which consider the whole of their practice

• collect support information that meets the requirements of the GMC’s guidance Supporting information for appraisal and revalidation (pdf).

If a doctor has not participated in annual appraisal or collected the required supporting information, you must make a judgement as to whether there are reasonable grounds that account for their failure to engage. These could include, but are not limited to, the examples provided in our criteria for deferral requests.

Where you have insufficient information on which to base a positive recommendation, you should consult the GMC’s criteria for deferral requests to determine whether there are reasonable grounds that account for the missing information.

It will be appropriate for you to notify the GMC of a doctor’s failure to engage in revalidation when:

• there are no reasonable circumstances that account for a doctor’s incomplete information or failure to participate in revalidation

• you have provided sufficient and fair opportunities to support the doctor’s participation in revalidation

• the doctor has not acted on the opportunities available to them to collect information or participate in appraisals

• you have exhausted all relevant local processes to address the doctor’s failure to engage.