Recommendations for doctors in training

The revalidation requirements are the same for doctors in training as they are for all licensed doctors, but doctors in training meet these requirements through engaging with their training programme and completing their Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP).

It is the individual responsibility of all licensed doctors to engage with revalidation by collecting and reflecting on information from the whole of their practice.

For doctors in training this is fulfilled through:

• participation in the assessments and curriculum requirements of their training programme and the collection of supporting information reflecting this
• reflecting on these requirements through assessments and regular meetings with their educational supervisor (including discussing any practice they undertake outside of their training programme)
• the existing ARCP processes or equivalent, which play the equivalent role of appraisal for doctors not in training.

The recommendation to revalidate statements recognise that doctors in training are not expected to participate in additional whole practice appraisals or to collect supporting information that is not already a requirement of their training programme or curriculum.

Doctors in training are very likely to work in more than one organisation as part of their training programme. They might also undertake additional practice outside of their training programme, and must declare all additional practice, including locum work, as part of the supporting documentation for their ARCP.

Doctors in training must share any relevant information (including any fitness to practise concerns, complaints about them, or significant events they have been involved in) from their whole practice with you (or with their educational supervisor on your behalf). This includes both from training posts and any additional practice outside their training programme. This should be reflected in the doctor’s portfolio and reviewed at the ARCP.

When making your recommendation you should consider a doctor in training’s fitness to practise across their whole practice using:

• outputs from the ARCP panel (ARCP panels may take account of additional clinical governance information and advise you on issues material to the revalidation recommendation)
• all relevant clinical governance information from the local education providers where the doctor undertakes their training placements
• any information available to you from outside formal assessments and curriculum requirements of training programmes, including any additional information you need from local education and training providers
• any clinical governance information available to you from any other place where the doctor has worked outside of their training programme (including appraisal outputs, if relevant).

A doctor’s revalidation does not depend on successful progression in their training programme. Therefore, an adverse training outcome does not mean that you cannot make a recommendation to revalidate, provided they remain fit to practise within their scope of practice.

When you make a revalidation recommendation for a doctor in training depends on the length of their training programme:

• if it is less than five years this will be at the point of eligibility for their certificate of completion of training (CCT)
• if it is more than five years, this will be both five years after they gain full registration with a licence, and at the point of eligibility for CCT.

The length of time between your first and second recommendation is determined by the length of their training programme. For example, if their training programme is eight years you will need to make a recommendation at year five and at year eight, with a three year gap in-between.

If a doctor is going to get their CCT before their revalidation date is due, and they are not yet under notice, you can ask us to bring forward their revalidation date via your GMC Connect account, to make your recommendation earlier.