Medacs Healthcare has been at the forefront of revalidation for locum doctors since its inception in 2012. Our dedicated revalidation team is on hand to provide all the advice and guidance you need to revalidate as a locum doctor.
To date, Medacs Healthcare has assisted over 1,000 locum doctors with revalidation by conducting annual appraisals, providing access to a secure online toolkit and free training which includes CPD accredited courses facilitated by the BMA.
Locum doctors who choose to link to us automatically receive the attention and dedication of our dedicated revalidation team who are on hand to expertly guide you through the revalidation process.
Medacs Healthcare supports locum doctors with:
If you are interested in finding out more about the revalidation services we offer, here's how to get in touch.
If you are already a member of the Medacs Healthcare family, you can speak to your Placement Officer who will be able to find out if you have done most of your locum hours with Medacs Healthcare in the previous 12 months. If we can confirm that you have, a member of our revalidation team will be in contact to guide you through the support we can offer.
If you are not registered with Medacs Healthcare, or if you have a general question regarding revalidation, please contact our team by completing the form below.
In March 2020, appraisal, revalidation and associated activities were suspended for the majority of doctors in the UK due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. This included the compiling of portfolios, recording of CPD, quality improvement and formal feedback.
October 2020, saw the GMC slightly change the process of appraisal and revalidation, and in April 2021 they began contacting doctors to notify them with four months' notice of their revalidation dates.
The GMC has provided clear guidelines of the supporting information to include, and the frequency required at each appraisal. Most appraisal portfolios will require you to provide some basic information about you and your practice.
The supporting information that you will need to bring to your appraisal will fall under four broad headings:
There are six types of supporting information that you will be expected to provide and discuss at your appraisal at least once in each five year cycle. They are:
Here are our top three tips to keep in mind when completing your revalidation.
For more information on what supporting information you should collate please visit the GMC Revalidation Support Team website.
Below is our handy guide to some of the key terms you will come across when preparing for revalidation. Don't forget, if you are unsure of anything just ask us a question using the form below.
Appraisal is the vehicle through which supporting information for revalidation will be assessed. All doctors who hold a Licence to Practise are required to engage in annual appraisals. The process of preparation, collation and reflection on information, followed by a discussion with an appraiser at a formal, confidential meeting.
The appraisal meeting between the appraisee and appraiser should take place every year. An appraisal is considered to be completed when the summary of the appraisal discussion and personal development plan (PDP) have been signed off by appraiser and appraisee, within 28 days of the appraisal meeting.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a continuous learning process that complements formal undergraduate and postgraduate education and training in order to maintain and further develop competence and performance. CPD enables you to maintain and improve across all areas of your practice.
An organisation that employs or contracts with doctors and is designated in The Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations 2010. A designated body as far as locum agencies are concerned are those which are participants in the GPS (previously Buying Solutions) national framework agreement for the supply of medical locums.
Good Medical Practice sets out the principles and values on which good practice is founded; these principles together describe medical professionalism in action. The guidance is addressed to doctors, but it is also intended to let the public know what they can expect from doctors.
To practise medicine in the UK all doctors are required, by law, to be both registered and hold a licence to practise. This applies to practising full time, part time, as a locum, privately or in the NHS, or employed or self employed. Licences are issued, renewed and withdrawn by the GMC.
Peer review is the process of having a piece of work or data/information reviewed by colleagues in the same field to ensure its validity and relevance.
The personal development plan (PDP) is an agreement, between the appraisee and appraiser, on the learning and development needs of the appraisee, identified at the appraisal interview, with an outcome-based learning plan for the subsequent year.
Quality Improvement Activity - For the purposes of revalidation, you will have to demonstrate that you regularly participate in activities that review and evaluate the quality of your work.
The overall process agreed with a practitioner to redress identified aspects of under performance. Remediation is a broad concept varying from informal agreements to carry out some re-skilling, to more formal supervised programmes of remediation or rehabilitation.
The Responsible Officer will have specific responsibilities relating to the evaluation of the fitness to practise of doctors connected with that organisation. Every licensed doctor will be linked with a named Responsible Officer. One of the Responsible Officer's key roles will be to recommend to the GMC whether or not a doctor should be revalidated.
Revalidation is the process by which Doctors holding registration with a Licence to Practise will have to demonstrate to the GMC normally every 5 years that they are up to date and fit to practise and complying with the relevant professional standards.
The Revalidation Support Team (RST), part of Guys & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, is a Department of Health funded body, which exists to support the implementation of revalidation. The RST works in partnership with the Department of Health for England, the GMC and designated bodies, to deliver an effective system of revalidation for doctors in England.
A Significant Event (also known as an untoward or critical incident) is any unintended or unexpected event, which could or did lead to harm of one or more patients. This includes incidents which did not cause harm but could have done, or where the event should have been prevented.
During their annual appraisals, doctors will use Supporting Information to demonstrate that they are continuing to meet the principles and values set out in Good Medical Practice.
Here are some commonly asked questions for doctors completing their revalidation and information on what steps you can take next.
Revalidation is the process by which doctors have to demonstrate to the GMC that they are up to date and complying with the relevant professional standards. Revalidation will be based on a local evaluation of doctors’ performance through annual appraisal. The information from the appraisal will be fed to a Responsible Officer who will make a recommendation to the GMC, normally every five years on whether to revalidate a doctor.
The purpose of revalidation is to assure patients, the public and other healthcare professionals that licensed doctors are up to date and are practising to the appropriate professional standards.
If doctors are holding registration with a licence to practise, then they will be required to participate in revalidation.
The RO will make a recommendation to the GMC about a doctor’s fitness to practise. This will be based on the doctor’s appraisals over the five year period, together with information derived from local clinical governance processes.
The GMC will require assurances that each doctor is meeting the required standards and that there are no known concerns about a doctor’s practice. The RO makes the recommendation, however it will be for the GMC to decide whether the doctor concerned should be revalidated.
To help doctors identify their Responsible Officer (RO), the Department of Health and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) have produced guidance outlining the ways in which doctors can link to a Responsible Officer.
General guidelines are:
If you organise most of the work yourself, then your RO will be the RO for the PCT where your address is, that is the address you are registered with the GMC.
The regulations also state that licensed doctors should relate to one and only one Responsible Officer.
A designated body as far as locum agencies are concerned are those which are participants in the GPS (previously Buying Solutions) national framework agreement for the supply of medical locums. Medacs Healthcare is a designated body.
Once a GMC-registered doctor has been identified, we would initiate the following process:
If you are working with Medacs Healthcare as a full-time locum doctor we will keep you fully informed of how we will support you through the revalidation process.
If you would like to become a locum doctor with Medacs Healthcare, see our latest locum doctor jobs.
