Revalidation

As a psychiatrist, you need to revalidate every five years to demonstrate your continuing fitness to practise.

Revalidation was introduced in 2012 to assure patients and the public that doctors are regularly checked by their employers and the General Medical Council.

All licensed doctors need to have an annual appraisal based on the GMC's Good Medical Practice.

The GMC website has more information on revalidation for doctors, employers and the public and the license to practise.

We’ve developed these guides to help you:

• Mythbusters: addressing common misunderstandings about appraisal and revalidation

• Supporting Information for Appraisal and Revalidation: Guidance for Psychiatrists (CR194) (PDF)

• Good Practice Guidelines for Appraisal (PDF)

You can use the forms below to collect the supporting information you need for revalidation.

• Case-based discussion: there are two templates available - a simple version, suitable for most psychiatrists and available in PDF (PDF) and doc (DOC) formats and a longer version developed for doctors involved in first tier tribunal work: PDF | doc
• Audit pro forma: PDF (PDF) | doc (DOC)
• Multisource feedback (colleague and patient / carer): PDF (PDF) | doc (DOC)
• Significant event audit: PDF (PDF) | doc (DOC)
• Complaint report: PDF (PDF) | doc (DOC)
• Structured reflective template for doctors undertaking a low volume of clinical work. Using the form is not a requirement, but doctors might find it a useful aid in describing their work and supporting activity. The form is the product of work by the Academy Revalidation and Professional Development Committee in which the College has been involved: PDF (PDF) | doc (DOC)

For further help please contact our revalidation helpdesk.

The GMC also have a wealth of material on their website, including revalidation, information for trainee doctors, requirements for supporting information and advice on your licence to practice.

The first step: establishing a 'prescribed connection'

Establishing a prescribed connection with a designated body is a vital first step in revalidation.

This is more straightforward for some doctors than others, depending on their working arrangements.

Most doctors have a connection with one organisation that provides them with an annual appraisal and helps with revalidation – that's their designated body.

The most comprehensive source of advice on this issue is the GMC website, which includes a tool to help you find your designated body, if you're not sure.

Within the College, the Private and Independent Practice Special Interest Group (PIPSIG) has previously organised a series of workshops looking at the issues affecting independent doctors' revalidation.

PIPSIG also host a forum to help, for example, doctors find a PDP peer group. The forum can be accessed from the PIPSIG webpage.

Demonstrating your Continuing Professional Development

An important element of the supporting information needed for revalidation is CPD.

The easiest way to structure and record your CPD for revalidation purposes is to use the College CPD scheme.

Further details are available on the Submitting your CPD pages.

Collecting feedback from patients and colleagues

You also need to gather feedback from patients and colleagues at least once in every five year revalidation cycle.

There are various tools and systems to help you to gather this feedback.

We recommend ACP 360 Multi-Source Assessment for psychiatrists, an appraisal process designed specifically for psychiatrists and fully compliant with GMC requirements.

ACP 360 also provides benchmarked feedback for psychiatrists.

We've also developed a tool to support expert witnesses to gather feedback, for example from solicitors and barristers.

• ACP 360 multi-source assessment for psychiatrists
• Multi-source Assessment for Expert Psychiatric Witnesses (MAEP)
• GMC resources and case studies for patient and colleague feedback

The GMC commissioned a review of revalidation in 2016, led by Sir Keith Pearson.

His report on the operation and impact of revalidation was published in January 2017.

In July 2017 the GMC set out their response to the review's findings and an action plan (PDF).

• NHS England revalidation pages
• NHS England Medical Appraisal Guidance (revised April 2016) (PDF)
• Practitioner Performance Advice (formerly National Clinical Assessment Service)
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges: revalidation information
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges: core principles of CPD (2023) (PDF)
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges: return to practice guide (revised, 2017) (PDF)
• Support for doctors