Revalidation

The process which licensed doctors are required to demonstrate to the General Medical Council (GMC) that they are up to date and fit to practise and that they are complying with the relevant professional standards.  

All doctors with a licence to practise on the GMC register, including those in specialist training and those on the specialist register, will be required to revalidate their licence every five years. 

GMC requirements: 

• Good Medical Practice   

• Good Medical Practice Framework for appraisal and validation  

• Supporting information  

The introduction of revalidation, alongside annual appraisals, should increase the likelihood of identifying areas where additional support or training may be needed early on.  How the areas in question are handled is for the employer to agree in conjunction with the individual doctor. 

We provide a number of educational resources for our members and Fellows within our CPD and revalidation sections.  

The College, in conjunction with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC), has produced: 

• Guidance for Clinical Oncology and Clinical Radiology on the Supporting Information required for Appraisal and Revalidation. 

This describes the portfolio of supporting information that you will need to maintain to revalidate, based on their specialty expertise. You should read it in conjunction with:  

• The GMCs - Generic Revalidation Guidance  

• The AoMRC's - Medical Appraisal Guide 2022  

These resources align with the latest appraisal and revalidation principles and processes across the four nations and recognise the value of verbal reflection and the importance of considering health and well-being as part of appraisal conversations. 

We also provide a generic Revalidation & CPD Reflection Template to help structure your reflections for appraisal and revalidation. 

The GMC recognises that reflection plays a vital role in learning and improving practice, and it is an essential element of the annual appraisal and revalidation process. As part of the five-yearly revalidation cycle, the annual appraisal requires doctors to document their reflections to demonstrate insight into their work. 

We provide a revalidation reflective template for clinical oncologists to help structure their reflections on all types of activities required for appraisal and revalidation. Two credits can be claimed for completing the template, one for reflecting on activities undertaken and one for the impact the activity has had on your professional practice. See the template, and examples of its use here:   

• Revalidation & CPD Reflection Template 

• Reflection on CPD: Reading a journal article and MDT discussion 

• Reflection on audit/quality improvement activity example 

• Reflection on significant event – chemotherapy drug administration error  

Clinical radiology examples of reflection  

• Reflection on CPD – RSNA presentation 

• Reflection on audit/quality improvement activity – departmental discrepancy 

• Reflection on complaint – responding to a patients’ complaint   

We are working on providing examples to cover all the areas required by revalidation. More examples should be available in due course.   

Other resources: 

• Publications and standards

• Cancer multidisciplinary team meetings – standards for clinical radiologists

• Revalidation Helpdesk 

Responsible Officers (ROs) make the recommendation about revalidation to the GMC.                                              

• For trainees in England - the designated body is their Local Education and Training Board (LETB).  The RO is the RO for the LETB. 

• For trainees in Scotland - the designated body is NHS Education for Scotland. The RO is the medical director for NHS Education for Scotland. 

• For trainees in Wales - the designated body is the Wales Deanery. The RO is the postgraduate dean. 

• For trainees in Northern Ireland - the designated body is the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA). The RO is the postgraduate dean. 

• Further details on revalidation from each of these designated bodies can be found by accessing their websites from this list. 

Members and Fellows can contact the Revalidation Helpdesk at revalidation@rcr.ac.uk.  Our service is supported by a pool of Revalidation Advisers (RAs), who will offer confidential specialty-specific advice and guidance on appraisal and revalidation to individual doctors, their appraisers, and responsible officers (ROs). 

While we endeavor to respond to your enquiries within two weeks, this response time may need to be extended for more complex enquiries. 

Confidentiality The helpdesk team will respond directly to generic enquiries on revalidation.  Enquiries that need specialty advice will be forwarded via email to our team of Revalidation Advisors.  All identifiable information of the enquirer will be redacted by the helpdesk before forwarding, to protect the enquirer’s anonymity.  The Revalidation Advisors will respond to the enquiry through the helpdesk rather than directly to the enquirer. 

Revalidation for doctors in training 

The General Medical Council (GMC) has published information about revalidation for doctors in training on its website, which covers how trainees will revalidate and when trainees are likely to be scheduled for revalidation. 

• General Medical Council FAQs 

• Academy of Royal Medical Colleges FAQs 

Alternatively, we provide a dedicated Revalidation Help Desk to offer confidential specialty-specific advice and guidance.  

Patient feedback 

The RCR is aware that the revalidation requirements for patient feedback have raised concern amongst some clinical radiology members and Fellows with no direct patient contact. You can view the RCR Revalidation Helpdesk response to queries regarding patient feedback for doctors with no patient contact.