Understanding the process of GMC revalidation for better outcomes

Posted by David Harley
1
Oct 6, 2015
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It is necessary for the doctors to revalidate for maintaining their licence to practise in the UK. For this purpose, GMC has set up GMC revalidation services which is responsible for doctor’s revalidation and ensures that the doctor is fit to practise and is up-to-date with the latest knowledge and skills in his/her respective medical field.

For the non-training medical grads, the GMC revalidation will be conducted on the basis of their local practice through medical appraisal. The doctors are expected to take part in the annual appraisal which takes place at the workplace over a 5 years cycle of revalidation. They need to create a complete portfolio of the supporting information as per requirement of GMC to bring it to appraisal which will form the basis of discussion. The supporting information will show the doctors are keeping themselves up-to-date with the latest medical knowledge and advancements and they meet the requirements of Good Medical Practice.

There are three main documents in which the revalidation services of GMC have set out the generic requirements for the medical appraisal and practice. Therefore doctors are required to understand the following documents;

  •  Frame work of Good Medical Practice for appraisal and GMC revalidation
  •  Supporting information for medical appraisal and revalidation
  •  The medical revalidation pages of FPH website

Along with this, doctors should also take into consideration the guidance that is provided by their employing or contracting body related to the local policies. To get detailed information doctors can review the ‘Medical Appraisal Guide’ that is available from the Revalidation support team of NHS England.

Who recommend doctors to GMC revalidation services?

A responsible Officer (RO) recommends doctor for the GMC revalidation generally after every five years. The recommendations are based on the following information;

  •  Information gathered through the five annual medical appraisals
  •  A complete portfolio comprising of supporting information
  •  The lack of concerns about the practice of doctor that are raised through the routes of local governance.

Responsible Officer can make any of the three statements in front of GMC:

  •  The doctor under consideration is up-to-date and fit to practice therefore he/ she should be revalidated.
  • More information is required to be gathered therefore recommendations should be deferred for now for instance at what point doctor took a break in career.
  •  The doctor has not been able to engage and coordinate with any of the local appraisal systems or processes that offer support for revalidation.


In case of last statement, the case of the doctor will be forwarded to the panel of Fitness to Practice (FTP) of GMC who will consider whether the licence to practise should be cancelled or not.  Only GMC reserves the right to cancel or give the ‘licence to practise’.

The GMC revalidation process is not just about passing or failing. It is a process of providing support and development opportunity to the doctor to ensure their fitness to practise and to help them in identifying weak areas in which they can improve at the early developmental stages by adopting a structured personal development approach.

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