Welcome to the NHS Revalidation Support Team (RST)

Implementation Support

The purpose of the Implementation Support project is to support healthcare systems and designated bodies in England to prepare for their role in delivering revalidation for doctors through appropriate training, guidance and tools.

A commitment was made by the UK health departments and the GMC that, subject to an assessment of readiness, medical revalidation will start across the UK in late 2012.  [Revalidation: A statement of Intent (GMC, 2010)].

For the NHS, the importance of preparing local systems in readiness for revalidation is highlighted in the NHS Operating Framework 2012/13:

“Medical revalidation is central to improving the quality and safety of care. NHS organisations should be ready in 2012 (as indicated by their organisational readiness self-assessment returns) with clinical governance arrangements including appraisals for doctors in place, to support responsible officers in fulfilling their duties.”
[The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2012-13 (Department of Health, 2011)].

The introduction of responsible officers in January 2011 has provided a focus for individual designated bodies to develop delivery plans to ensure readiness prior to the implementation of revalidation.

The Implementation Support project includes six work streams, which will help ensure that organisations are prepared for revalidation and have the right processes in place to support their doctors. These are:

• supporting implementation through the SHA clusters
• Organisational Readiness Self-Assessment tool (ORSA)
• responding to concerns: investigation, remediation and targeted support
• revalidation training for current medical appraisers
• specific support for groups of designated bodies or doctors experiencing particular challenges such as locums and hospices
• further development of RST guidance and tools as required

Support to individual designated bodies is being provided by the SHA clusters. For more information on how your SHA cluster can support you to prepare for revalidation, please contact your local SHA Revalidation Project Manager