Revalidation
A programme of work to help RCGP members prepare
for revalidation is now underway.
The
Government and the General Medical Council have yet to
publish their timescales for relicensure and recertification which
together make revalidation but Chairman Steve Field and College
Council are putting steps in place to ensure that GPs have as much
information and lead-in time as possible to familiarise themselves
and fully prepare for the process.
Background
Revalidation encompasses two activities –
relicensure and recertification.
All doctors registered with the General Medical Council will be
required to hold a licence to practise which will need to be
renewed (relicensure) every five years.
Those doctors working unsupervised within
specialties have been issued with certificates and appear on either
the General Medical Council’s Specialist
or General
Practitioner registers. In order to continue to be on these
registers indicating specialist skills, doctors will need to renew
their certificates every five years (recertification).
The requirements for revalidation will include
those for both recertification and relicensure so that one process
covers both outcomes.
The three phases of
revalidation
Preparation of over five years of evidence
which will be discussed at annual appraisals.
Submission and assessment of that evidence to
ensure it meets the standards for revalidation - RCGP will lead on
this second phase but the GMC will approve the standards and
quality assure the process.
Third phase - only for GPs whom the RCGP is
unable to recommend for revalidation (in which case the GMC will
assess performance through Fitness to Practice processes
before the GP’s certificate is put at risk).
Revalidation - provisional
timescale
- 2008 Publication of
Good Medical Practice for GPs/ Development of proposals and
start piloting
- 2009 Incremental
rollout, piloting and evaluation
- 2010 Proposals available
for agreement with GMC
Framework for
revalidation
Good Medical Practice for General Practitioners
(GMP for GPs)
A revised version of
Good Medical Practice for General Practitioners (GMP for GPs)
was published in July 2008.
Based on the GMC’s
Good Medical Practice, the document was first made specific to
GPs in 2002. Its aim is to provide important guidance to general
practitioners on the expectations of their peers and the public as
to their standards of care and behaviour.
Key changes in the latest version include the
replacement of the term ‘Excellent GP’ with ‘Exemplary GP’; a new
section on appraisals; reflection of the changes in out of hours
provision and the upsurge in web/e-mail communication.
The statements in GMP for GPs will inform the
standards expected in revalidation. The ‘exemplary GP’ statements
will guide the formative discussions in GP annual appraisals while
the descriptors of an ‘unacceptable GP’ and the requirements for
revalidation will inform an appraiser’s judgments.
Principles of GP
Appraisal
A UK-wide paper 'Principles
of GP Appraisal' describing the principles and process of
appraisal has been published by the RCGP.
Criteria, Standards and
Evidence
Work on appraisal has highlighted the need for a
timetable for the collection of evidence to be developed over a
five year cycle so a short life working group will be set up to
build on the work already done in Scotland and Wales and develop
Criteria, Standards and Evidence informing the content of the
recertification portfolio. This will also take into account the
workplace based assessment element of the nMRCGP.
Managed CPD System
Other revalidation activity already underway is
the development of a managed
CPD system by the RCGP
Professional Development Board and provision of online
Essential General Practice updates.
RCGP Revalidation Groups
The College has established three groups
dedicated to the management, governance and delivery of
revalidation:
- Revalidation Stakeholder Group chaired by
Professor Steve Field
- Revalidation Technical Group, chaired by
Professor Dame Lesley Southgate, which will be tasked with specific
pieces of work
- Revalidation Governance Group chaired by RCGP
Chief Executive Hilary De Lyon which will ensure that the project
is effectively managed and delivered cost-effectively
Professor Field said: “The development and
delivery of a system for the revalidation of general practitioners
will be the greatest challenge for the College over the next two to
three years. While the main focus of work is concerned with the
recertification element, relicensure will also require College
input.
“This is something to which we must all commit as
it will improve the quality of care for our patients and I am
determined that the process will happen without causing added
bureaucracy or heartache for individual doctors and the
profession.”
Regular updates on the progress of
recertification will be provided via this site
All press enquiries should be directed to the
RCGP Press
Office