What is revalidation?

What is revalidation?

Medical revalidation is the process by which the General Medical Council (GMC) confirms the continuation of a doctor’s licence to practise in the UK. All doctors who wish to retain their licence to practise need to participate in revalidation.

What is the purpose of revalidation?

The purpose of revalidation is to provide greater assurance to patients and the public, employers and other healthcare professionals that licensed doctors are up-to-date and fit to practise. It is a key component of a range of measures designed to improve the quality of care for patients.

How does revalidation work?

Revalidation is based on a local evaluation of doctors’ practice through appraisal. Through a formal link with an organisation, determined usually by employment or contracting arrangements, each doctor relates to a senior doctor in the organisation, the responsible officer.

The responsible officer makes a recommendation about the doctor’s fitness to practise to the GMC. The recommendation will be based on the outcome of the doctor’s annual appraisals over the course of five years, combined with information drawn from the organisational clinical governance systems.

Following the responsible officer’s recommendation, the GMC decides whether to renew the doctor’s licence.

The responsible officer is accountable for the quality assurance of the appraisal and clinical governance systems in their organisation. Improvement to these systems will support doctors in developing their practice more effectively, adding to the safety and quality of health care. This also enables early identification of doctors whose practice needs attention, allowing for more effective intervention.