Revalidation resources

Revalidation guides

Our guides to revalidation for doctors at different points in their careers

Revalidation and the licence to practise: withdrawing, giving up or restoring your licence and licensing appeals

Why we might withdraw your licence, how you give up or restore your licence, and how to appeal a revalidation decision.

Revalidation tips for doctors new to UK practice

See our overview of revalidation and revalidation connections for doctors leaving UK training or new to UK practice.

Revalidation tips for doctors working in multiple settings

See our guide to connections, whole practice appraisals and sharing information about medical practice for doctors working in multiple settings.

Revalidation and breaks in practice

What to do if you're planning or have had a break in practice (whether planned or unplanned).

Revalidation and the later stages of your career

See our guide to revalidating and maintaining your licence in the later stages of your career.

Revalidation and fitness to practise

Understand how to revalidate if you are involved in proceedings about your fitness to practise.

Collecting colleague and patient feedback for revalidation

How to use questionnaires to gather colleague and patient feedback for revalidation.

Guidance for decision makers

Understand how we make decisions relating to revalidation.

Patient feedback case studies

Our case studies for doctors with patients who can’t give feedback or who have limited patient contact.

Feedback from your patients can give you valuable insight into your performance. If you're a doctor and aren't sure how to collect patient feedback, please speak to your appraiser, responsible officer, suitable person or employer.

If your practice means that you don’t have patients and there are no alternatives, then you should discuss this with your responsible officer or suitable person and agree whether you need to meet this requirement.

How can I get enough patient feedback when I work in short term posts?

Dr Timms is a locum doctor who holds short term appointments.

How can I meet appraisal requirements if I don't have patient contact?

Dr Holditch is a microbiologist and Dr Smith a histopathologist. They work in laboratories and provide medical advice to others.

How can I collect feedback when my patients are too unwell to respond?

Dr Levy works in a hospice. Patients often don’t have capacity to give feedback and asking their families can be inappropriate.

I see patients briefly in challenging circumstances. How can I collect feedback?

Dr O’Neill provides second opinions for patients detained under the Mental Health Act.

When is the best time to ask my patients for feedback?

Dr Chaudry is an anaesthetist. He sees patients briefly, often when it’s not appropriate to ask them for feedback.

How can I collect patient feedback when I work in a managerial role and don’t see patients?

Dr Jackson is a Director of Public Health. She does not have contact with individual patients.

How can I collect patient feedback when I don’t work for any GP service on a regular basis?

Dr Wilson works as a locum GP across a range of different surgeries. Her work includes out of hours and a prison setting.

Can I collect feedback from clients instead of patients?

Dr Patel is a medico-legal doctor who prepares legal reports. She doesn’t see patients but has clients.

How can I collect feedback when my patients are too young to respond?

Dr Jez is an associate specialist in neonatology. Her patients are infants in a special care baby unit.

Recommendation case studies

Making revalidation recommendations is a core function of responsible officers and suitable persons.

These case studies explore a range of issues that might influence the recommendations you make for your connected doctors.

Making recommendations: colleague feedback

How to use feedback to inform your recommendations. How much feedback you need and whether you should compare the amount of feedback gathered by different doctors.

Making recommendations: deferrals

Understand the relationship between breaks in practice and recommendations to defer. See the discretion you have to make deferral recommendations and the support we can give to help you make your decision.

Making recommendations: non-engagement

Understand which recommendation to make when a doctor has not engaged with revalidation processes.

Making recommendations: barriers to engagement

Explore reasons why doctors might not engage with revalidation. Understand that you must provide access to appropriate systems and processes to support revalidation.

Making recommendations: deferrals where the Dr has raised concerns

Things to consider when making a deferral where the Doctor has raised public interest concerns.

Making recommendations: non-engagement where the Dr has raised concerns

Understand which recommendation to make when a doctor has not engaged with revalidation processes after raising public interest concerns.

Making recommendations: appraisal activity and sufficient supporting information

This scenario looks at appraisal activity and considering whether there is sufficient supporting information to revalidate.

Making recommendations: interruption to practice and considering local versus GMC requirements

This scenario looks at considering breaks in practice when making a recommendation.

Involving patients in revalidation

Resources to help you involve patients in revalidation.

Although we do not recommend any particular approach, our resources may help you to think about ways that lay member participation can make sure that revalidation systems and outcomes reflect patient interests. Resources include a simplified explanation of revalidation and case studies showing how organisations have involved patients.

See how you can involve patients in revalidation.

Quality assurance from a lay perspective: Milton Keynes University Hospital Revalidation Committee

See the role of lay members in Milton Keynes Hospital’s Revalidation Committee.

Designing revalidation processes using lay expertise: Nottingham University Hospitals MARAG

See the role of lay members in Nottingham University Hospitals’ Medical Appraisal and Revalidation Advisory Group.

GMC guidance

Our core guides to help you understand revalidation.

Guidance on supporting information for appraisal and revalidation

Understand the supporting information you need to collect and reflect upon at your annual appraisal.

Guidance for doctors: requirements for revalidation and maintaining your licence

See the requirements for revalidation for all doctors who hold registration with a licence to practise in the UK.

The GMC protocol for making revalidation recommendations: Guidance for responsible officers and suitable persons

See our guidance to help responsible officers and suitable persons make revalidation recommendations.

Effective governance for the medical profession: A handbook for organisations

See the core elements of effective governance for organisations employing, contracting or overseeing the practice of doctors.

The Good medical practice framework for appraisal and revalidation

See the broad areas which should be covered in medical appraisal and on which recommendations to revalidate doctors should be based.

The reflective practitioner - guidance for doctors and medical students

This short guide supports medical students, doctors in training and doctors engaging in revalidation on how to reflect as part of their practice.

GMC support services

Our support services who can help you in revalidation.

Outreach - working locally to meet the changing needs of UK health services

Our Outreach team works across the UK to improve understanding of our guidance.

Related legislation

The legislation behind revalidation.

The main regulations that detail how we carry out our revalidation functions are:

The General Medical Council (Licence to Practise and Revalidation) Regulations Order of Council 2012
These have been amended by:
The General Medical Council (Licence to Practise and Revalidation) (Amendment) Regulations Order of Council 2014

The General Medical Council (Licence to Practise and Revalidation) (Amendment) Regulations Order of Council 2015

The General Medical Council (Amendments to Miscellaneous Rules and Regulations) Order of Council 2015.

Responsible officers’ legislation

The Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations 2010

The Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 (which reflect the changes to the structure of the NHS in England which took place on 1 April 2013)

The Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 – Explanatory note

The Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations (NI) 2010 and accompanying guidance

Related organisations

Revalidation advice and support from other organisations.

National healthcare organisations

UK organisations

British Medical Association revalidation
Get an overview and FAQs on revalidation. They also provide the Doctor Support Service a confidential support service for doctors.

COPMeD revalidation publications
The Conference Of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) includes a number of publications on revalidation for doctors in training.

Medical royal colleges and faculties

Academy of Medical Royal Colleges

The medical royal colleges and faculties have set up help desks for responsible officers, appraisers and doctors seeking specialty advice about revalidation. You can also find revalidation information on their websites:

The Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine

Faculty of Homeopathy

Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management

Faculty of Occupational Medicine

Faculty of Public Health

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine

Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare

Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine (FSEM)

Royal College of Anaesthetists

Royal College of Emergency Medicine

Royal College of General Practitioners

Royal College of Radiologists