Making a recommendation about a doctor’s revalidation
This guide helps responsible officers and suitable persons make recommendations for doctors.
It focuses on:
- your statutory responsibility to evaluate your doctors’ fitness to practise
- step-by-step information on making a recommendation
- the three different types of recommendations (revalidate, defer, non-engagement)
- criteria to help you decide which recommendation to make
- our response to recommendations of non-engagement.
It is important that you fulfil the requirements outlined in this guide and in our step-by-step process for responsible officers.
Why you need to read this guide
Doctors and designated bodies should also use the guide to understand how responsible officers and suitable persons make recommendations.
The background to this guide
This guide is based on sections 2–6 of The GMC protocol for making revalidation recommendations: Guidance for responsible officers and suitable persons.
It focuses on your statutory responsibility to make recommendations for the revalidation of doctors, set out in the Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations 2010 (as amended) and Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations (NI) 2010. You can find all the relevant references in the full guidance.
While suitable persons aren’t covered by the Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations 2010, all guidance, instructions, and statements about making revalidation recommendations apply to them, except where otherwise stated.
