A new, easy-to-use toolkit will help all doctors to contribute to the development of revalidation.
The practical resources are designed to support doctors discussing revalidation and contributing to the GMC’s consultation, Revalidation: the way ahead, which is open until 4 June 2010.
Revalidation will affect all licensed doctors which is why the GMC is seeking feedback from as many doctors as possible about our plans and proposals for revalidation. The toolkit includes a useful discussion guide to help users engage their colleagues in workshops or focus groups. Doctors and employers can use template posters and a website banner image to promote their meeting and the consultation, along with a guide which will explain how to respond to the consultation.
The flexible nature of the toolkit means that it can be used by a wide variety of groups, including local medical committees, medical societies, group practices of GPs, junior doctor’s messes, patient involvement groups and health managers.
The introduction of revalidation will provide 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 proposed system has been designed to be flexible and relevant to doctors’ day-to-day practice, building on existing systems to support high quality care.
“The GMC wants to hear from as many doctors as possible during the consultation, but we know it isn’t possible to meet every doctor during the revalidation consultation events being held across the UK during the coming months.
“Our toolkit is designed to help groups of doctors and groups of patients hold informed discussions about the proposals for revalidation. This will help us to create a robust and workable system that will command the confidence of doctors and reinforce the public’s continuing trust in the profession.”
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 are available from 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 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.
