Welcome to the NHS Revalidation Support Team (RST)

What do we need to do?

A commitment was made in October 2010 by the UK health departments and the General Medical Council (GMC) that, subject to an assessment of readiness, medical revalidation will start across the UK in late 2012.  All doctors wishing to hold a licence to practise must take part in revalidation and all organisations providing healthcare are obliged to support their doctors throughout the process.

Guidance for leaders

The GMC has a section for employers on their website, which includes:

A guide to revalidation for NHS leaders in England (published 13 July 2011 by the GMC, Department of Health, Revalidation Support Team and NHS Employers) (pdf)

A guide for independent sector leaders in England (published 18 October 2011) (pdf)

Checklist for employers 

NHS Employers has created a checklist for employers, which provides a useful outline of items to consider, including appraisal policies, pre-employment processes, contracts, action plans and capacity considerations.

Suggestions for support

Employers could also start to think about other ways they could support the revalidation process.  For example, to help preparation for revalidation, a GP practice could:

• Develop a system to catalogue data from clinical audit – perhaps a shared folder for the doctors to access.  If doctors within a practice are encouraged to communicate about audits and other information, this will help to avoid duplication.  Are clinical audits being written up and is there any support that can be given?
• Encourage and facilitate doctors to keep up with their continuous professional development and put them in touch with educational events and learning groups
• Hold regular meetings to discuss significant events
• Contact the appraisers and liaise with them to arrange appraisals
• Enable locum doctors working at the practice to join in with meetings and discussions, have access to educational sessions and conduct clinical audits