Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This page is for licensed doctors and has some FAQs about revalidation.
What is revalidation?
Revalidation is the process by which licensed doctors are required to demonstrate on a regular basis that they are up to date and fit to practise. Revalidation aims to give extra confidence to patients that their doctor is being regularly checked by their employer and the GMC.
How will I revalidate?
If you are a licensed doctor you will have to revalidate, usually every five years, by having regular appraisals with your employer that are based on our core guidance for doctors, Good Medical Practice. You will also have to collect supporting information which demonstrates how you are meeting the standards in this guidance.
When will I revalidate?
Revalidation officially started on 3 December 2012. This is the date that the regulations that we need to begin revalidating doctors commenced. In December, we will start to tell doctors when they will revalidate for the first time. We have set your date by working with your responsible officer, who has told us when they expect you will be ready for revalidation over the next few years. Your first revalidation will be sometime between April 2013 and March 2016. Read more about our approach to starting revalidation.
What is my designated body?
This is the organisation that is supporting you with your appraisal and revalidation. You only have one designated body, regardless of how many organisations you may be employed by or contract with. You can find the name of your designated body in your GMC Online account, if you have one. If you need further help, please visit our ‘My designated body’ page where you will find a series of case studies and an online tool.
Only UK organisations can be designated bodies, because the legal rules that determine this only cover the UK.
What is a responsible officer?
We will revalidate you based on a recommendation that we receive from your responsible officer. Your responsible officer is likely to be the medical director of the organisation that is supporting you with your appraisal and revalidation. This organisation is called your designated body.
Will I need to revalidate?
If you hold a licence to practise, then you will need to revalidate.
I work wholly outside the UK. How will I revalidate?
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.
However, you may not need a licence to practise if you practise entirely outside of the UK. You may decide it is better to give it up. You can still maintain your registration without a licence, and this will indicate you are in good standing with us. You can apply to have your licence restored if you need it at some point in the future. More information about giving up and restoring your licence is available here.
I hold a licence but I don’t do any clinical practice. How will I revalidate?
If you want to continue to hold a licence to practise, then you will need to revalidate like every other doctor who is licensed.
However, you may not need a licence to practise if you don’t carry out any clinical practice. If this is the case, you have the option of giving up your licence but maintaining your registration with us. This will show you remain in good standing with us.
You can apply to have your licence restored if you need it at some point in the future because your circumstances change. Read our information about giving up and restoring your licence.
Please remember, though, that by giving up your licence you will not be able to exercise any of the privileges associated with it. These include writing prescriptions, and signing death or cremation certificates.
If you would like more information about the options available to you, please call us on 0161 923 6602.
I do not have a prescribed connection to a designated body
A small minority of doctors will not have a prescribed connection to a designated body due to the nature of their practice and where they work.
Only UK organisations can be designated bodies, because the legal rules that determine this only cover the UK.
If you have used the online tool and it appears that you do not have a connection to a designated body, you need to:
- Log on to GMC Online through our website. If you don’t already have one you can set up a new GMC Online account.
- Click on the ‘My revalidation’ tab
- Click on the ‘I don’t have a designated body’ button. Provide some information about what you do and where you work. This will help us to provide you with more advice.
We are working with the four countries of the UK to identify a suitable process for the revalidation of doctors with no prescribed connection. We will publish further details later this year.
In the meantime, you should consider your professional duties set out in Good Medical Practice, including keeping your knowledge and skills up to date. You should also review our supporting information guidance and consider the information that you can collect to show that you are keeping up to date and fit to practise.
You should also consider whether you need to hold a licence to practise. Holding full registration with a licence to practise allows you to exercise certain privileges in the UK, for example to work as a doctor in the NHS, sign death certificates and write prescriptions. If you do not require a licence to practise, you may choose to continue to hold Registration with the GMC without a licence to practise.
Do I need a specific number of hours or credits to meet the GMC’s requirements for revalidation?
Our supporting information guidance says we don’t require doctors to have a specific number of hours or credits of continuing professional development (CPD). As the regulator, we’re interested in the impact of doctors' learning and development and how that learning contributes to improving patient safety and the quality of care provided by doctors and the teams in which they work. We have published the guidance booklet, Continuing professional development: guidance for all doctors to help doctors reflect on how they fulfill their professional duty to keep their knowledge and skills up to date throughout their working lives.
How much CPD someone needs, and what CPD activities are appropriate, will be different for each doctor. For this reason we have not set a specific number of CPD credits or hours as a requirement for revalidation or attempted to prescribe the content of doctors' CPD activities.
However, we recognise that other organisations, such as the medical royal colleges and faculties, offer guidance on how doctors should carry out CPD relevant to their specialties. Many of these organisations also offer credit based schemes that require doctors to complete a specified number of hours of CPD. Many doctors find this useful. These systems may provide doctors with a valuable way to demonstrate at their appraisals that they are participating in CPD in line with expected practice in their specialty.
You can read more about why we have not specified hours/credits for CPD in our report on our consultation on our role in Continuing Professional Development. You can find more information about how we developed our outcomes-based approach to CPD in the final report of Review of the GMC’s Role in Doctors’ Continuing Professional Development.
I'm a locum using my own 'umbrella' company. Is my prescribed connection to the organisation that contracts my services through my company?
No. If you contract indirectly with an organisation by providing your services as a locum through your own company, this does not mean that you have a prescribed connection to that organisation.
You may have a prescribed connection to a designated body elsewhere for example, if you are also employed in the NHS or the private healthcare sector. If you have used the online tool and it appears that you do not have a connection to a designated body, you need to:
- Log on to GMC Online through our website. If you don’t already have one you can set up a new GMC Online account.
- Click on the ‘My revalidation’ tab
- Click on the ‘I don’t have a designated body’ button. Provide some information about what you do and where you work. This will help us to provide you with more advice.
We will provide more details shortly about the arrangements for doctors in these circumstance who do not have a prescribed connection.
Contact us
If you need further advice or help with revalidation, please contact us.