Features: Revalidation - a progress report
27 July 2009
From November 2009 doctors wil need a licence to practise - but what about revalidation?
From 16 November 2009, all doctors will need a licence in order to practise medicine in the UK. But what about revalidation? The next seven pages look at the work being done behind the scenes.
The launch of the licence to practise on 16 November this year is the first step towards the future introduction of revalidation. In this special edition, GMCtoday looks at the work being carried out across the four countries of the UK in preparation for the future revalidation of doctors.
Revalidation will be built largely on local, workplace-based systems of clinical governance including a strengthened form of appraisal. This involves a wide range of organisations, including the NHS and the independent sector, the four departments of health, the GMC and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges working together, to ensure these systems can support revalidation in the future.
Here GMCtoday catches up with the UK Revalidation Programme Board and meets the Chair of the Board, Keith Pearson (see opposite). We also find out how the GMC’s generic guidance for doctors, Good Medical Practice, will be integrated throughout the revalidation process and hear about a number of pilots and projects that are being undertaken throughout the UK to test various aspects of the process in advance of implementation.
How the UKRPB will work in practice
The UK Revalidation Programme Board was established to bring together a number of organisations responsible for taking a shared approach to getting systems ready to support revalidation. The Board’s main focus is to ensure organisations work collectively to achieve the same goals. It provides strategic oversight of progress and oversees the work of the Revalidation Delivery Boards in each of the four countries of the UK. The Revalidation Delivery Boards are responsible for ensuring that local systems of appraisal and clinical governance are sufficiently developed to support revalidation.
Only through this collective working and a shared responsibility will real and effective progress be made towards the successful implementation of revalidation across the UK in the future.
The Board met in February, April and June, and will meet twice more this year. The key priorities of the Board for 2009 and 2010 are to monitor closely the readiness timetable for the UK-wide delivery of revalidation; to agree how the readiness of local systems to support revalidation will be evaluated; and to ensure that clear and consistent communications on revalidation are properly established and maintained.
The Board is accountable to the GMC and it will be the GMC that makes a decision – in conjunction with the four Departments of Health and the Revalidation Delivery Boards in each of the four countries – on how, when and where revalidation will be rolled out.
Revalidation: the facts
- Revalidation is the by-product of effective systems of clinical governance developed to meet the needs of the NHS and other healthcare providers.
- Revalidation will be based on elements that most doctors are already familiar with, such as annual appraisal and audit.
- There will be extensive testing and piloting across all sectors before revalidation is introduced.
- We will take a phased approach to implementation, starting where local systems needed to support revalidation are ready and fit for purpose. There will be no big bang.
See also