Revalidation: the way ahead. 20 questions the GMC wants you to answer

The General Medical Council has set out the most comprehensive statement yet on revalidation, with proposals on how it will work, when it will be rolled out, and what doctors and employers need to do.

The consultation poses 20 key questions for those who will be affected in order to help shape the process.

Revalidation is about providing further assurance that the 218,000 doctors with a licence to practise medicine in the UK are up to date and fit to practise. The proposals set out a system which is designed to be flexible and relevant to doctors’ day-to-day practice and builds on systems that already exist, or should exist, to support high quality care.

The statement makes clear that revalidation is on its way but there will be no big bang approach to its introduction – instead there will be a phased implementation following extensive piloting to ensure that it is proportionate and practicable.

Revalidation will not involve a point-in-time assessment of a doctor’s knowledge and skills. It will be based on a continuing evaluation of their practice in the context of their everyday working environment. Revalidation will focus on affirming good practice for the vast majority of doctors but will depend on good clinical governance arrangements that should also detect poor practice.

The proposals in the consultation have been developed by the GMC in close collaboration with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the four health departments, the NHS and other healthcare employers, the medical profession, and input from patients and patient groups.

The consultation has four main themes:

• How revalidation will work. This covers the approach to revalidation, including the process by which a final recommendation will be made to the GMC by a designated 'Responsible Officer', likely to be the medical director in a doctor's employing organisation. More specific issues, such as how revalidation will work for doctors in non-mainstream roles, will also be considered.
• What doctors and employers will need to do. The consultation will consider aspects of appraisal and assessment, the specialty standards developed by the Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties, the role of continuing professional development in revalidation and the use of questionnaires to test the views of patients and colleagues.
• How patients will be involved. This section explains how patients will provide feedback to doctors on their performance and how this will be included in the revalidation process.
• How and when revalidation will be introduced. This section sets out the plans for implementation across the four parts of the UK.
  

The Chair of the General Medical Council, Professor Peter Rubin, said:

“As doctors, we are among the most trusted of all professionals. We have to ensure that this trust in doctors continues to be justified. For the past 150 years, the GMC has sought to provide assurance through the register of medical practitioners. It remains one of the most robust and well used registers anywhere in the world. But it has always been a historical record of exams and qualifications earned, not of competence or performance. As such, it offers a limited assurance about whether each of us is maintaining the high standards expected of us throughout our careers.

“Revalidation will plug this gap. In one sense, what is being proposed is no more than what should be happening in every doctor’s practice – it is based on local systems of annual appraisal over five years and affirms what has already been demonstrated through that appraisal process.

“We want to hear from doctors, employers and patients across the UK in response to the consultation – we need to know the views of all of those affected to ensure that revalidation works, and is proportionate and flexible to meet the needs of a busy and diverse workforce.”

Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, said:

“Revalidation is starting to take shape and all doctors who hold a licence to practise will be required to demonstrate, on a regular basis, that they are up to date and fit to practise. This consultation is an opportunity for all doctors to have their say in how the process will work - I would encourage as many as possible to take part.

“For the vast majority of doctors in this country, revalidation will confirm what they already do: keep their skills and knowledge up to date and demonstrate high levels of professionalism every day of their working lives. This new system will also help us to give appropriate support to those few professionals who are struggling to keep pace.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact the Media Relations Office on 020 7189 5454, out of hours 020 7189 5444, email press@gmc-uk.org, website www.gmc-uk.org.

Full details of the consultation, including a comprehensive set of frequently asked questions will be available from the 1 March 2010 the GMC's website
www.gmc-uk.org/revalidation

The GMC is inviting a wide range of organisations to take part in the consultation. We are also keen to hear the views of individual patients, carers, doctors and other healthcare professionals as well as members of the public. You can respond online via our website (www.gmc-uk.org/thewayahead).

Alternatively, you can reply by email to thewayahead@gmc-uk.org or in writing. The consultation runs from 1 March 2010 to 4 June 2010.

The GMC will be holding a series of briefing events to formally launch the start of the consultation across the four nations of the UK in the first two weeks of March. The GMC will also be participating in up to 100 events to engage a diverse range of key interest groups in the consultation.

The General Medical Council registers and licenses doctors to practise medicine in the UK. Our purpose is summed up in the phrase: Regulating doctors, Ensuring Good Medical Practice.

The law gives us four main functions:

• keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors
• fostering good medical practice
• promoting high standards of medical education
• dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt
  

Merger of PMETB with GMC

From 1 April 2010, (subject to legislation) the functions of the Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) will be transferred to the GMC, creating a simpler and clearer framework for the regulation of medical education and training.

In February 2008, the Secretary of State announced that PMETB would be merged with the GMC, following a recommendation from Sir John Tooke’s Independent Inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers. Following the merger, all stages of medical education and training will fall under the GMC’s remit. For more information please visit www.gmc-uk.org or www.pmetb.org.uk

Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA)

From April 2011, the adjudication of fitness to practise cases involving doctors will transfer from the GMC to a new body called the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA). OHPA is being established under the Health and Social Care

Act 2008. It is being created to ensure clear separation between the investigation of fitness to practise cases and the process of determining whether a professional’s fitness to practise is impaired.

To begin with, the new body will be responsible for making decisions on fitness to practise cases brought forward by the GMC and, in time, the General Optical Council. Over time, other regulators of healthcare professionals may transfer their adjudication functions to OHPA. For more information about OHPA, please visit www.ohpa.org.uk

The GMC will remain the regulator for doctors, continuing to set the standards for professional practice and receiving and investigating allegations about their fitness to practise.