Revalidation for Doctors

I thought I should do a short blog about revalidation. Most doctors will now know what this means. For those of you who aren't doctors, it's the process that allows doctors to demonstrate to the General Medical Council that they are up-to-date and fit to practice. From April this year it will be mandatory for all doctors. The basis of this is an annual appraisal where each doctor must produce evidence of:

• Their Continuing Professional Development (all the courses and training they have attended)
• The Quality Improvement activity they have done
• Any significant events they have been involved in
• Multisource feedback from their colleagues
• Multisource feedback from patients they look after
• Any complaints or compliments regarding them

In Wales, doctors will all collect this information on an online database (the MARS system), and will need to show that they have met once a year with a trained appraiser to review this. Any actions they need to take to maintain their skills must be described in a personal development plan.

I have two roles in all of this. Firstly, as a doctor, I have to make sure that all six sorts of evidence are up-to-date for me, and that I have reflected properly on that evidence. A fortnight ago I met with my appraiser to go over all of this, and I'm happy to say that I'm now ready for my revalidation by the Chief Medical Officer at the end of next month. Although it took me a little while to get used to the MARS system, it was easy to use and made it very easy to store my evidence so it could be retrieved quickly and easily in future. It will certainly make preparing for my appraisal much easier, and I have resolved to keep my evidence file updated every month so I don't have to enter everything at the end of the year. Secondly, as the Responsible Officer for the health board, I have to make sure that all doctors have collected their evidence, been appraised, and have a development plan that addresses any issues that have surfaced.

Although it is still early days, the revalidation process feels like it will be a real step forward in assuring the quality of all the doctors who work in the health board. That must be a good thing for patients.