Revalidation Development Projects

Revalidation Development Projects

The UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has co-ordinated a number of short life working groups to develop principles, standards or guidance in relation to a range of issues of relevance to all specialties – e.g. criteria for the use of clinical audit in revalidation. They also fund a wide range of developmental projects led by groups of two or more Colleges, many of them concerned with practical support tools.

RCPE is involved with a number of these projects including

The impact of revalidation on the lives of consultants – this project, led by RCPE in partnership with other Colleges and the Health Services Research Unit at Aberdeen University has surveyed consultants and SAS doctors in Scotland and the North of England to explore how revalidation may affect other important aspects of their work. This has allowed us to estimate the impact of revalidation (in terms of doctor time) and explore any unforeseen complications in terms of impact on other areas of work. The College is very grateful to all who took the time and trouble to complete what was a lengthy and detailed hard copy questionnaire.

The project report is now available and in addition to giving a wealth of information about how doctors currently use their time, the key messages of direct relevance to revalidation include:

Over 75% of doctors had an appraisal in the 12 months prior to the survey (consultants 87%).
Over half of doctors believe clinical governance information is not readily available from their employer
Most doctors believe that revalidation will take significant time over and above appraisal.
More doctors in the NEE than in Scotland believe the time taken to prepare for appraisal will be higher than in previous years.
54% of doctors have time allocated in their job plan for appraisal but there is surprising variation between groups
There are a small but significant number of 9:1 contracts in Scotland and the NEE of England, making anything beyond basic appraisal preparation impossible.
Only a third of doctors can take all their study leave.
Lack of time and insufficient cover are major barriers to CPD .
Less than 50% of doctors expect to absorb revalidation in their current NHS time.
Almost a third of consultants, if faced with reducing their NHS work would limit their non-clinical administration/management activity (this includes service development and clinical governance).

For further information on the project and/or the full research results contact e.tait@rcpe.ac.uk

E system to support appraisal and revalidation – RCPE is part of a cohort of 8 Colleges developing a revalidation portfolio with Equiniti 360. This will allow consultants to capture, analyse and store relevant information for appraisal. It will reflect the new structure of medical appraisal (which itself reflects the GMC’s 4 domains for revalidation) and will complement the existing CPD diary system available for physicians through the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians in the UK. Control over access to and use of data within the portfolio remains at all times with individual doctors and use of the portfolio is entirely voluntary. It will be available to Fellows and Members of participating Colleges as part of Fellowship and membership services. Some employers may adopt the portfolio as part of their wider revalidation management system.

An announcement about the first wave of revalidation recommendations is imminent and all doctors in the UK will receive confirmation of their individual revalidation date in the next few months. The College has established a virtual help desk to respond to questions about revalidation from Fellows and Members and from their appraisers and responsible officer (ROs) on specialty aspects of revalidation. All enquiries will be processed centrally with responses screened for consistency and accuracy and delivered by email. The College has recruited a small network of Fellows to act as specialty advisers and who will work cooperatively with similar advisers in the other Colleges of physicians. All advisers will be undertaking training for this role. Fellows and Members with questions about revalidation should email revalidation@rcpe.ac.uk.