Blogs

Please see below the GMC guidance on doctor appraisal and revalidation: http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/revalidation/12388.asp

We will revalidate you, usually every five years, based on a recommendation that we receive from the responsible officer in the organisation that is supporting you with your appraisal and revalidation. This organisation is called your ‘designated body’.

Your Responsible Officer is a licensed doctor who is usually the medical director or their deputy of that organisation.

Your revalidation submission date is the date by which we need to receive a recommendation about you from your Responsible Officer.

What happens before your revalidation submission date?

Six months before, we will ask you to check that the designated body information we hold for you is correct.

Four months before, we will send you formal notice that we need to receive a recommendation about you from your Responsible Officer by your revalidation submission date. Your Responsible Officer will know that we have issued you with this notice.

Ten days before, if we have not received a recommendation about you, we will write to you to let you know. Your Responsible Officer may well have everything in hand but you need to be aware that your licence to practise may be at risk if we do not receive a recommendation about you by the required date. You should contact your Responsible Officer and ask them to submit their recommendation about you by the submission date.

If we hold an email address for you, we will email you about your revalidation.

How will Responsible Officers make recommendations?

When your revalidation recommendation is due, your Responsible Officer can make one of three recommendations about you. They can submit:     

• a recommendation to revalidate that you are up to date, fit to practise and should be revalidated (we expect this will be the case for the vast majority of doctors)
• a recommendation to defer because they need more time or more information to make a recommendation about you. This might happen if you take an extended break from practice. Deferral does not affect your licence to practise.
• a recommendation of non-engagement notifying us that you have failed to engage with appraisal or any other local systems or processes that support revalidation.

Occasionally we receive information that raises concerns about the systems and processes that are used to make recommendations about a doctor’s revalidation.

Our guidance on managing and responding to information about revalidation explains what we do when receive this type of information.

What happens when we receive your Responsible Officer’s recommendation?

When we receive a recommendation we consider it and any other relevant information. When we have made our decision about your revalidation, we will write to you to let you know.

We will set the date of your next revalidation five years (minus one day) from the date we make our decision. We will not use your previous revalidation submission date to calculate your next revalidation date.

If we defer your revalidation, we will confirm your new submission date when we write to you.

If your Responsible Officer tells us you are not engaging with revalidation this is because they consider you have failed to meet the requirements of revalidation.

We will write to you to tell you that we are considering if your licence should be withdrawn. You will have 28 days to respond and tell us why we shouldn’t remove your licence. We may share your response with you Responsible Officer before we make our decision.

If we decide to remove your licence, we give you notice and explain your right to appeal within 28 days.

If you appeal, we won’t take any action until it’s completed.

Available on: http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/revalidation/12388.asp

For further information on medical appraisals and revalidation, 
KIndly visit our website - https://medicalappraisals.org.uk/
Our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGv7f1oW3wjrs1hCriW6k2Q