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Regular checks on doctors begin
03 Dec 2012
Radical changes to the way doctors are checked to ensure they are safe to treat patients came into force today.
The new system of checks - known as revalidation - will be run by the General Medical Council (GMC) and means the UK's 230,000 licensed doctors are now legally required to show they are keeping up to date and are fit to practise.
The new system is based on an annual appraisal and the information doctors will collect about their practice, including feedback from patients, doctors, nurses and other colleagues.
The UK is the first country in the world to introduce such a system across its whole healthcare system, covering GPs, hospital doctors, locums and those working in the independent sector. To keep their licence to practise, doctors will be required to revalidate on a regular basis, usually every five years.
To kick off the new checks, the GMC will today start writing to 13,000 doctors telling them when they will revalidate. The rest of the UK’s licensed doctors will be written to by the end of January 2013. The GMC expects to revalidate the majority of licensed doctors by March 2016, with medical leaders expected to go first.
Professor Sir Peter Rubin, Chair of the GMC, who will be one of the first doctors to revalidate, said:
‘This is an important day for doctors and patients. We are confident that over time revalidation will make a significant contribution to the quality of care that patients receive and should give them increased confidence that the doctors who treat them are up to date.’
Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said:
‘Today is a momentous day - as doctors in the UK become the first in the world to have regular assessments to ensure that their training and expertise are up to date and that they remain fit to carry out their important role of providing high quality care for patients.
‘Doctors save lives every day and making sure they are up to speed with the latest treatments and technologies will help them save even more. This is why a proper system of revalidation is so important.’
Notes to Editors:
For further information please contact the Media Relations Office on 020 7189 5454, out of hours 020 7189 5444/ 07920 461497, email press@gmc-uk.org, website www.gmc-uk.org.
Based on plans developed by the four UK countries, we expect to revalidate: responsible officers and other medical leaders first, by March 2013 about a fifth of licensed doctors between April 2013 and the end of March 2014 the majority of licensed doctors by the end of March 2016 all remaining licensed doctors by the end of March 2018.
Since April, the GMC has been working with doctors to understand their connections with ‘designated bodies’. These are the organisations that have a duty to provide doctors with a regular appraisal and help them with revalidation. They include NHS organisations, independent healthcare providers, and locum agencies.
As a result of our ‘make your connection’ campaign we know the designated bodies for nearly 200,000 licensed doctors on the register. We are developing alternative arrangements for doctors who don’t have a designated body.
Over the summer we worked with responsible officers to schedule doctors for their first revalidation from December 2012 onwards. Responsible officers have based their schedules on when they expect each of their doctors will be ready for revalidation. We will start to tell doctors their dates from today onwards.
Readiness statistics for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are as follows:
England:
- Registered and licensed doctors 2011: 177,659
- Over 90% of doctors are connected to designated bodies that are ready or very close to being ready for revalidation. (A ‘designated body’ is a UK organisation which will provide a doctor with a regular appraisal and help them with revalidation)
- The percentage of doctors linked to designated bodies who have had an annual appraisal rose from 63% in March 2011 to 73% in March 2012.
Northern Ireland:
- Registered and licensed doctors 2011: 6,454
- In NI primary care, 99.7% of those eligible for appraisal were appraised last year.
Scotland:
- Registered and licensed doctors 2011: 19,373
Wales:
- Registered and licensed doctors 2011: 10,400
- The GMC has been hosting events, in partnership with the Wales Deanery and Health Boards, to inform doctors about the implementation of Revalidation
- 87% of GPs have completed appraisals during 2011-12 and 91% of trainees have been engaged in the annual review process for doctors in training
- 99% of doctors are covered by a designated body that has appointed or nominated a Responsible Officer