Revalidation: eight months to go

As momentum builds for the beginning of revalidation, our chair, Professor Sir Peter Rubin, addresses concerns that not all organisations may be 100% ready by the end of the year.

Most patients I speak to think that revalidation already exists. They believe that, as in most jobs, we are all regularly appraised and get feedback from those we work with and those we treat. Our patients expect it, they most certainly deserve it and we will continue to work towards delivering it.

Doctors are under a lot of pressure and I know there is a lot of change at the moment, but as I go around the country meeting doctors and managers I see the introduction of revalidation as helping to focus minds. They talk about strengthening clinical governance, and providing better information for doctors to help them reflect on and improve their practice.

One of the most common areas of misunderstanding I come across is around multi-source feedback – what it is, how often we need to collect it and from whom. We have prepared some frequently asked questions which I hope will address some of this, but I hope that doctors will continue to get in touch if they are worried about this or anything else over the next few months.

I have also heard concerns that not all organisations will be ready to begin revalidation by the end of the year.

This is true; while good progress is being made, some organisations may not be ready. But we’ve never intended that revalidation would start as a 'big bang'. We expect to revalidate around 25% of doctors in 2013/14 and build from there. So we don’t need every single doctor to be able to revalidate within the first month of 2013 for revalidation to begin.

We will be starting with those organisations that are most ready, and there is growing evidence that many organisations will be.  

There are things that still need to be done, we would not say otherwise – but real progress is being made – thanks to support from the BMA and medical royal colleges and the work of employers and the four UK departments of health.

No doubt we will make refinements along the way. But we have waited long enough. Maintaining momentum now is crucial. Patients expect nothing less.

More information

Find out more on our revalidation web pages.