Revalidation

Revalidation commences

The legislation commencing revalidation came into effect on 3 December 2012. Every licensed doctor is now required to regularly revalidate. Senior medical leaders and responsible officers will be the first to revalidate and the GMC will now begin to write to all doctors notifying them of their revalidation date. Every doctor should have received a letter by the end of January 2013.

Further information can be found at the GMC revalidation page.

GMC information for licensed doctors and doctors in training.

A four country CMO statement made subsequently can be found at the following link:

• Announcement of medical revalidation in the UK

Implementation of revalidation in Northern Ireland

The Revalidation Implementation Plan for N Ireland has been approved by the Confidence in Care Programme Board. Implementation is based on a core set of principles agreed by the GMC and the four UK health departments.

Full details can be found in the Northern Ireland Revalidation Implementation Plan.

Revalidation Delivery Board

The Board is co-chaired by Dr Paddy Woods (Deputy Chief Medical Officer, DoH) and Marc Bailie (Director of HR,DoH). The board oversees the work of the Responsible Officer Forum which was established on the implementation of the responsible officer role on 1 October 2010 to provide support to responsible officers and is chaired by Dr Paddy Woods.

Meetings of the Revalidation Delivery Board and Responsible Officer Forum

The Revalidation Delivery Board and the Responsible Officer Forum will continue to meet throughout the coming year.

Minutes of Programe Meetings

Confidence in Care Programme Board agreed that minutes of meetings of the Northern Ireland Revalidation Delivery Board and Responsible Officer Forum are to be made available on this site. These are available at the links below:

• Minutes of Responsible Officer (RO) Forum
• Minutes of NI Revalidation Delivery Board (RDB)

Related links on revalidation

• GMC FAQ's
• HSS(MD) 21/2010 Introduction of Revalidation - letter from the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland
• NI RDB Revalidation readiness report May 2012

Related links on responsible officers

• The Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations (NI) 2010 and DHSSPS guidance on the role of responsible officers for doctors and employers.

Appraisal remains the cornerstone of the revalidation process. The links below provide access to guidance and supporting documentation on appraisal.

• appraisal for doctors and dentists (excluding GPs)
• annual appraisal for GPs circular HSS(MD) 10/2014
• update on GP appraisal circular HSS(MD) 23/2006
• GP appraisal circular HSS(MD) 30/2002
• GP appraisal forms
• the prevention, detection and management of underperformance in general practice
• investigating GP performance concerns