Revalidation regulations and requirements

Revalidation is the process through which the GMC decides whether a medical professional can keep their licence to practise in the UK. The GMC works with responsible officers who checks whether you are keeping up to date and practising safely and then makes a recommendation to the GMC, usually every five years, on whether you should be revalidated and maintain your licence to practise. The ultimate decision on whether you revalidate sits with the GMC.

Within that five-year revalidation cycle, your responsible officer or the GMC may get involved if there are any serious concerns about your practice or if you need extra support for any reason. Otherwise, your revalidation recommendation should be straightforward and not need any extra work from you.

We'd recommend you check your revalidation date via your GMC online account rather than rely on a date in a previous summary or appraisal platform.

The GMC has a lot of resources which cover all aspects of revalidation.

You are responsible for ensuring that:

• you check you are connected to a designated body
• you keep your GMC online account up to date
• you engage with any clinical governance systems in all your roles that require a licence to practise
• you participate in annual appraisal and reflect on your practice in your appraisal discussion.

Your participation in annual appraisal should include:

• every year reflecting on CPD, complaints and compliments, and any serious incidents you or your teams have been involved in
• every revalidation cycle (at least once every five years) taking part in formal patient and colleague feedback exercises and quality improvement activities that relate to your practice.

While you are expected to engage fully in the annual appraisal process to revalidate successfully, the GMC makes clear that there is no requirement to have five annual appraisals before a revalidation recommendation can be made. The GMC could give you a revalidation due date that is less or more than five years from your first appraisal. There are many reasons for having approved missed appraisals, such as parental leave or sick leave. It is important that any missed appraisals in the revalidation cycle are agreed by your responsible officer (RO) as being necessary and appropriate.

Before your RO can make a positive recommendation to revalidate, you must have collected all the GMC supporting information. This normally requires at least two appraisals but, in exceptional circumstances, a motivated doctor can achieve it at their first appraisal.

If you are struggling to collect all the supporting information before your revalidation recommendation due date, your RO can recommend a deferral. This is a neutral act. The GMC will continue your existing licence to practise and set a new revalidation recommendation date. You will be able to work while you collect the remaining supporting information that you need. Your RO can recommend a deferral period of between four months and one year depending on how long you need to collect and reflect on the remaining supporting information.

If you do have to miss an appraisal due to a significant period out of work, it can be a good idea to have an early appraisal following your return. This will give you an opportunity to reflect on all that you have experienced and learned and to plan any changes that you now want to make.

If you have been out of clinical work for more than two years, you should seek a conversation with a clinical advisor, who you can find through your regional appraisal team. You may find this valuable after shorter breaks as well. Depending on what you have been doing, they may recommend a returner scheme with a personalised length of time based around your specific learning needs.