The Key Proposals

• Medical revalidation will have two core components: relicensure (for all doctors wishing to practise in the UK) and specialist recertification (for those on the specialist or GP registers)

• As a first stage, the GMC will issue licences to practise

• Doctors who are retired, overseas, or taking a long career break, will be able to maintain registration with the GMC if they wish but will have no legal right to practise in the UK unless the relicense/recertify

• The licence to practise will be subject to renewal every five years by succesfully revalidating

• Doctors in training will be required to relicense but this will be done through their existing assessment processes, rather than through the new systems being developed for revalidation

• Relicensure will be based on positive evidence that a doctor remains up-to-date and fit to practise against generic standards set by the GMC. The process will centre on:
  • a revised system of annual appraisal
  • participation in a 360◦ feedback exercise in the workplace (also known as multi-source feedback or MSF)
  • patient satisfaction surveys

  • resolution of any concerns about conduct or practice, to the satisfaction of the doctor’s medical director (or responsible officer) and the GMC Affiliate (a new role proposed within the restructuring of the GMC)

• Recertification, like relicensure, will be based on a positive affirmation of entitlement to practise, not just an absence of concern. The process will be carried out by the relevant medical Royal College(s) based on assessment against standards set by the Colleges for the different specialties. The types of evidence used for recertification will vary between specialties and be drawn from a range of sources and activities which may include:
  • employer appraisal
  • CPD portfolios
  • MSF
  • Patient satisfaction surveys
  • knowledge based assessments
  • clinical audit
  • procedural recertification
  • knowledge based assessments