The roles and responsibilities of stakeholders for revalidation

Doctors

Responsible for meeting the revalidation requirements as set out in our guidance for doctors: 

• Check their connection to a designated body and keep that information up to date in GMC Online
• Gather and reflect on all of the required supporting information
• Engage with clinical governance systems in the places they work including incident reporting, complaints management and responding to concerns
• Participate in annual appraisal including discussing and reflecting on your supporting information: 

  Annually at every appraisal

  • Compliments and complaints 
  • Serious incidents they / their team have been involved in
  • Continuous professional development (CPD) activity

  At least once in each revalidation cycle (usually every five years)

  • Formal feedback provided by their patients
  • Formal feedback provided by their colleagues
  • Quality improvement activity that evaluates part of their practise

The quality of the information and the reflections it prompts are more important than the volume of material gathered.

Appraisers

• Use the appraisal meeting to discuss the supporting information the doctor has collected for revalidation including their reflections
• Provide the appraisal outputs / summary to the organisation’s appraisal system, lead appraiser or responsible officer 
• Participate in local quality assurance processes of the appraisal system

Responsible officers and suitable persons

Responsible officers 

• Ensure there are clinical governance and quality assurance systems in place for all doctors who work in their organisation – and monitor, act and report on these
• Ensure all doctors connected to them for revalidation have access to appraisals

Responsible officers and suitable persons

• Support doctors to collect their supporting information for revalidation
• Maintain their list of connected doctors and keep this up to date
• Follow our guidance for making revalidation recommendations to us, using relevant clinical governance information to inform these.
• Have effective systems in place which promptly pick up on any fitness to practise concerns about their doctors. Carry out the additional duties set out in Section 1.2 of the GMC protocol for making revalidation recommendations
• Share relevant information with us and other organisations where doctors work

Designated bodies

• Appoint a responsible officer
• Ensure the responsible officer is adequately resourced to discharge their responsibilities under the Responsible Officer regulations
• Obtain assurance that the responsible officer is discharging their duties under Responsible Officer regulations
• Establish and maintain clinical governance systems and processes for all doctors who work in their organisation, including:
  • Recruitment and induction
  • Responding to concerns including monitoring restrictions on registration
  • Complaints management
  • Incident reporting  
  • Quality assurance
  • Information sharing 

Other organisations

Employers and contracting bodies

• Implement and manage clinical governance and quality assurance systems for all doctors who work in their organisation including policies and processes for reporting and responding to concerns, complaints management and incident reporting 
• Support doctors to collect their supporting information for revalidation
• Share relevant information with a doctor’s responsible officer or suitable person

Royal colleges and faculties

• Publish examples and guidance on how doctors might meet the requirements of revalidation in their specialty 
• May provide systems to support their members to track and log CPD activity

General Medical Council

• Set the national framework for revalidation and for making revalidation decisions about individual doctors
• Provide a system for the management of revalidation including issuing notices to doctors and receiving revalidation recommendations.
• Provide guidance for revalidation including:
  • Doctors’ requirements for revalidation
  • Supporting information for revalidation
  • The GMC Protocol for making revalidation recommendations
  • Effective clinical governance for the medical profession
• Provide online tools to support revalidation 
  • Find your connection for revalidation
  • Information Sharing Principles
• Make decisions to revalidate doctors 
• Manage revalidation for doctors that do not have a connection to a designated body or suitable person
• Manage the process that allows doctors to appeal a registration or licence to practise decision