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Revalidation
Revalidation
All of you may have heard about revalidation till now but many locum doctors won’t have a clear idea what revalidation means and how it’s gonna affect their careers as a locum doctor in the UK.
Simply speaking, revalidation is the process by which the General Medical Council will confirm the continuation of a doctor's licence to practise in the UK. Its purpose is to assure patients and the public, employers and other healthcare professionals that licensed doctors are up to date and fit to practise.
The revalidation will start on 3rd Dec 2012 and will begin the process of revalidation of doctors this point onwards. GMC will inform doctors when they are supposed to revalidate for the first time between Dec 2012 and March 2013. In a phased manner, the process intends to revalidate majority of responsible officers first by the end of March 2013. This will be followed by revalidation of majority of licensed doctors by the end of March 2016.I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. I’m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you.
How to get ready for revalidation:
Following are few of the most important things you should be doing in order to get your revalidation done successfully:
1.Set up a GMC online account: You should set up an online GMC account ASAP, if you don’t have one already. If you are an overseas doctor and have cleared your PLAB (or are in the process of it) this is the same account through which you have booked your PLAB test or seen your result. If you work in the UK as a doctor and pay your GMC retention fees online, you should already be using this account. However, if you wish to register on line you can find more info on GMC website that can be accessed through the link given below:
http://www.gmcuk.org/doctors/information_for_doctors/gmconlinehelp.asp
2.Confirm your Designated Body and Identify Your Responsible Officer: This can be done through GMC online account. If you login to your GMC online account and go to ‘My Revalidation’ under ‘Revalidation Details’ you will find the following details:
At the very bottom of the page you will see three buttons as below:
In order to initiate the process you are supposed to choose from one of the three options you have:
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Confirm designated body- click on it if you have a designated body (usually your deanery if you are in training)
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Change designated body- choose this option if you have moved your job recently and therefore have a new designated body now or if a wrong designated body is shown in error
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I don’t have a designated body- choose this option if you don’t have a designated body yet allocated. In this situation you can use GMC online tool to find your correct designated body which can be accessed here
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http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/revalidation/designated_body_tool.asp or a full list of Designated Bodies can be found here http://www.gmc-uk.org/help/list_of_designated_bodies.htm
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3. Regular Appraisals: The importance of having regular appraisals cannot be overemphasized in the careers of doctors. Appraisals are one of the important ways doctors can use to track their progress and take timely steps to address their career development needs. This has become ever so crucial after introduction of revalidation. The appraisals form one of the most important building blocks in the process when a doctor is revalidation himself/ herself. Apart form the regular features, the appraisals done as a part of revalidations should include following:
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Done under the supervision of your responsible officer. Your responsible officer will provide more details about different factors like what kind of format is accepted locally, etc.
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Cover all of your professional practice
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Be based on the GMC Good Medical Practice Framework for appraisal and revalidation
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Include information about your practice, as set out by the GMC: Supporting information for appraisal and revalidation. This should include: previous appraisal summaries, CPD records, quality improvement (e.g. audit outcomes), significant events, patient and colleague feedback, and complaints/compliments
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Through your responsible officer you should also find local arrangements for collection of patient and colleague feedback
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And familiarise yourself with the specialty guidance of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
In order to facilitate the process and support the doctors through it NHS has established Revalidation Support Team (RST) that works in collaboration with the Department of Health, GMC and designated bodies to deliver an effective system of revalidation for doctors in England. More information can be obtained on http://www.revalidationsupport.nhs.uk/index.php
GMC website also provides comprehensive info and appropriate guidance on the process that can be accessed here http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/revalidation/9622.asp
If you need any specific help as a locum doctor in your appraisals and or revalidation, kindly feel free contact us by filling the box below and we will try to help at our level best. Good luck!
