Revalidation in Secondary Care

Dear Colleague

Revalidation in Secondary Care

Following discussions at a local and national level I am writing to give you further details of how revalidation will work in NHS GGC.

As previously notified, all doctors will be required to revalidate every 5 years in order to maintain their licence to practise. In Scotland, doctors will be put forward for revalidation in accordance with the following schedule:-

The year beginning April 2013 - doctors with a GMC number containing 4 or 6 as the penultimate number

The year beginning April 2014 – doctors with a GMC number containing 0, 5, 7 or 8 as the penultimate number

The year beginning April 2015 – doctors with a GMC number containing 1, 2, 3 or 9 as the penultimate number

The GMC will formally confirm the actual date by which they need to receive the recommendation for revalidation for each doctor in due course.

According to our records your GMC number places you in the third cohort for revalidation i.e. you will be expected to revalidate in the year 2015/16. Although, you are not due to revalidate this year all doctors from this year forward, should participate in an enhanced appraisal using the new NHS Scotland Appraisal paperwork in order to comply with GMC’s requirements for medical revalidation.

Detailed below you will find some helpful guidance on preparing for revalidation

1)Participate in Enhanced Appraisal with the GMC’s Good Medical Practice Framework as its focus.

To be eligible for revalidation you are required to complete an enhanced appraisal annually from now on. This year’s appraisal should focus in the main on information gathered during the preceding year i.e. should focus in the main on information gathered during the period 1st April 2011- 31st March 2012; but should also include information on significant events which may have occurred after this period but prior to the appraisal meeting.

In accordance with CEL 31(2012) Medical Revalidation: Annual Appraisal Documentation you will be allocated a NES trained appraiser by your medical manager. It is no longer permissible to self-select an appraiser, but you will be entitled to request one alternate choice of appraiser if you are not satisfied with your allocated appraiser. If you have a legitimate reason not to accept the second appraiser then Professor Paul Knight, Appraisal Lead, will appoint another trained Appraiser; and this decision is final.

Appraisals should be recorded using the new NHS Scotland Appraisal paperwork. I would ask all doctors to complete their appraisal online using the Scottish Online Appraisal Resource (SOAR). This will assist greatly in record keeping and ensure that through audit, the process can be quality assured. To register with SOAR please access the following website

For a brief introduction on how to use the SOAR system please use the following web link

and click on SOAR Introduction for Secondary Care Users at the bottom of the page. Please note if accessing SOAR using your home PC, in a small minority of cases, you may have to disable your firewall settings depending on your security set-up.

2) Demonstrate through appraisal that you meet the GMC’s requirements for revalidation by collecting and reflecting on the following supporting information:-

For further information on supporting information please access the following GMC website

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Provide evidence of CPD e.g. review of last year’s Personal Development Plan

• Quality Improvement Activity

Provide evidence of regular participation in quality improvement activities in the 12 month period prior to the appraisal e.g. audit, review of clinical outcomes, case review etc

• Significant Events, Complaints and Compliments

Discuss any significant events/critical incidents or complaints involving you or your team in the preceding 12 months, with a particular emphasis on those that have led to a specific change in practice or have a learning outcome.

In future, doctors will be able to receive verified complaint numbers that have been logged under their name on the NHSGGC Datix System. However, until this system is fully up and running I would ask that you consider bringing along a copy of any complaints to your appraisal meeting, remembering that patient identifiable data should be removed. Alternatively, many of the medical Royal Colleges have produced reflective templates for complaints. This in conjunction with a statement about known complaint numbers would be sufficient for the moment.

You may also wish to bring along any compliments you have received to your appraisal meeting.

• Feedback from Patients and Colleagues

Provide evidence of feedback from patients and colleagues:-

Multisource feedback ( MSF)

The colleague MSF can be accessed through SOAR using the following web address

Once during every 5 year revalidation cycle, doctors should distribute 15 MSF questionnaires to their colleagues working within their multi-disciplinary team. It is recommended that the doctor complete this exercise in the 4 weeks leading up to their appraisal meeting, to ensure that they have the necessary feedback to form part of the appraisal discussion.

Patient Questionnaire

The GMC has indicated that doctors should obtain patient questionnaires where this is appropriate. There will be doctors such as those in laboratory specialties who do not see patients as a component of their everyday work. Other doctors may see very few patients during the course of a year. In these circumstances it will not be necessary for the doctor to obtain a patient questionnaire. This should be discussed and agreed with your appraiser in advance of your appraisal.

Doctors will be asked to distribute 25 patient questionnaires, once during every 5 year cycle. In NHS GGC it is recommended that the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure Questionnaire be used. Further guidance regarding the administration of the patient questionnaire is attached.

Please note that as you are not in the first cohort for revalidation it is not necessary for you to obtain patient questionnaire feedback this year. As long as you have undertaken a validated patient questionnaire exercise in the 5 years leading up to your revalidation date this may be used.

3) Complete a Health Statement & Probity Statement, both of which are included in the NHS Scotland Appraisal Documentation, accessible through SOAR.

If you have not already done so I would recommend that you register with GMC Online to ensure that you receive regular updates directly from the regulator.

Further information on Revalidation, including Frequently Asked Questions, can also be accessed on Staffnet or the Glasgow University’s Server at

Should you have any queries in relation to the above please e-mail .

Yours sincerely,

Dr Jennifer L. Armstrong

Medical Director/Responsible Officer

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde