Doctors Will Have To Renew Their Professional Registration Every Five Years, England

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Article Date: 23 Jul 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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Chief Medical Officer for England (CMO) Sir Liam Donaldson has laid out plans which will require that doctors renew their professional registration every five years. Sir Liam said they are aimed at improving patient safety and supporting professionals in sustaining their high standards.

The proposals are outlined in the report Medical revalidation - Principles and next steps (PDF).

Sir Liam added that the plan will also help "put quality at the heart of NHS care".

The outline includes patient input as well. Patients will be asked for their views on how effective their doctors are in:

-- Effective communication, including listening, informing and explaining
-- Involving patients in treatment decisions
-- Care co-ordination and support for self-care
-- Showing respect for patients and treating them with dignity

Sir Liam said "I'm confident that this process, agreed with doctors' representatives will help raise standards of medical practice and improve the quality of the patient experience. The involvement of patients and public in the process will help define what counts as good healthcare and in the rare cases where doctors are falling short, provide them, where possible, with the support needed to renew their registration."

A Programme Board will be set up by the GMC (General Medical Council) to support the development of the revalidation process. The GMC, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and UK Health Departments have said they will all work together with patients, the profession, and employers.

Graeme Catto, President, GMC, said "The introduction of revalidation represents the biggest change to medical regulation in one hundred and fifty years. The GMC welcomes the opportunity to work with partners in healthcare organisations across the United Kingdom to develop a supportive process focussed on raising standards that will deliver benefits to both patients and professionals."

Dame Carol Black, President, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said "I warmly welcome this opportunity to help shape the development of revalidation. The Academy and the Royal Colleges have an important role to play in the development process. We will be working with the GMC and others to establish standards for specialist practice that doctors will have to achieve to obtain specialist recertification."

A series of pilot schemes are scheduled to start in 2009.

New appraisal system was given cautious backing by the British Medical Association (BMA)

Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman, BMA said "The BMA is supportive of plans to appraise doctors in order to develop and improve their skills. However, it is essential that the CMO's proposals are not unduly burdensome for doctors and result in them having to spend less time with patients. It is vital that the new system is good for patients and fair to doctors. The vast majority of doctors are dedicated to providing high quality care to their patients. It is important that these proposals are not used to weed out the minority of doctors who are under-performing - there are other processes in place to do this. The BMA does have some concerns about the timescales for piloting and implementation and we could not accept a situation where certain specialities were chosen for early roll out, simply because it was considered easier to progress with them first."

-- Download Medical revalidation - Principles and next steps (PDF)

Written by - Christian Nordqvist
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