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REVALIDATION
Webpage updated: 20th January 2010
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What is Revalidation?
Revalidation is a set of
procedures, operated by the GMC, to evaluate
a doctor’s fitness to practice. A positive Revalidation outcome is
a condition of GPs continuing to hold a Licence to Practice. In
December 2008, the GMC started writing to all doctors on the
medical register about the introduction of the new License to
Practice, which will be introduced in Autumn 2009. All registered
doctors will receive a
leaflet which explains what the introduction of
licensing means for them. Revalidation encompasses two
components:
- Relicensure –
As highlighted above, and in line with the Good Medical Practice,
all licensed doctors will need to demonstrate to the GMC (normally
every five years) that they are practising in accordance with the
generic standards of practice set by the GMC.
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Recertification – This applies to doctors included
in the GMC’s Specialist or General Practitioners registers. To
recertify, doctors will demonstrate that they continue to adhere to
the standards that are relevant to their specialist skills or
particular area of practice.
Although relicensing and
recertification are separate components of revalidation, the GMC
intends that they will operate as a single set of processes. For
both components, the evidence supporting a doctor’s revalidation
will be largely generated from within the workplace and brought
together through appraisal. There will be a single recommendation
to the GMC on whether a doctor should be revalidated, and this will
cover both relicensing and recertification. For
further information on Revalidation, please visit the
RCGP Revalidation
webpage.
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Guide to the Revalidation of General Practitioners - Third
Version
The Guide to the revalidation of General
Practitioners is regularly updated in line
with any developments in the systems and processes being developed
for the revalidation of general practitioners. In
January 2010, the RCGP released the third version of the guide
which can be accessed by clicking here.
The key changes between the second and third
editions include:
- Adoption of the use of the phrase “supporting information” in
place of “evidence”, in keeping with other relevant
organisations
- Adjustment of the timelines to reflect the fact that the Early
Adopters programme (in which the first doctors will revalidate)
will now start in the year 2011/12
- The possibility of GPs submitting a quality improvement project
in the place of a second clinical audit
- Reference to the revalidation of GPs in training
- Simplification of the Learning Credits (Supporting information
area 6)
- A refinement of the definition of activities included in
extended practice (Supporting information area 13)
- Emphasis of the discretion that will be required by Responsible
Officers for assessing supporting information for
revalidation.
RCGP Guide to the Credit-Based System for CPD - Second
Version
To accompany the third Revalidation Guide, the
College has also released Version 2 of the
RCGP Guide to the Credit-Based System for CPD
which has been refined (guidance on how many credits should be
claimed for different learning activities has been simplified).
Frequently Asked Questions
In addition to the second version of the 'Guide to the
Revalidation of General Practitioners', the RCGP has also developed
a "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) page, answering some of the
frequently asked Revalidation questions that have been posed by
GPs. To view the FAQ's, please click here.