Lobby your College on revalidation!
June 2008
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) has been tasked with taking forward the proposals on revalidation, as detailed in the White Paper ‘Trust, Assurance and Safety’. Pilots for both relicensing and recertification are due to take place soon, before implementation in 2009/10. As such, the CCSC believes that it is important for doctors to lobby their Colleges to express their views on the methods of recertification in their specialty and on revalidation as a whole.
The CCSC paper 'Using job planning and appraisal to satisfy revalidation' outlines how tools that are already being used by consultants could be used to satisfy the aims of revalidation. Used successfully, CCSC believes that a structured appraisal process combined with effective job planning and effective outcomes measures, would be sufficient to demonstrate performance and safety.
Whilst the CCSC agrees with the principle of revalidation and recognises that consultants have a reasonable duty to prove to patients that they are safe in the speciality in which they certified, it believes that any revalidation process must be workable in practice and must not be an inappropriate burden on doctors or employers, in terms of effort, time and expense.
When contacting your College (see details below), you may wish to consider raising the following issues. That;
- The aims of revalidation could be satisfied by proper utilisation of the tools already available in and associated with the consultant contract.
- There must be sufficient time within the job plan for all angles of revalidation. Adequate resources and quality training are also needed.
- Only credible, evidence-based data must be used in the process
- The cost implications may be high
College of Emergency Medicine - cem@emergencymedicine.uk.net
Faculty of Dental Surgery - dwillmot@rcseng.ac.uk
Faculty of Occupational Medicine - president@facoccmed.ac.uk
Faculty of Public Health - president@fphm.org.uk
Royal College of Anaesthetists - president@rcoa.org.uk
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - president@rcog.org.uk
Royal College of Ophthalmologists - president@rcophth.ac.uk
Royal College of Pathologists - president@rcpath.org
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health - patricia.hamilton@rcpch.ac.uk
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh - president@rcpe.ac.uk
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland - college@rcpi.ie
Royal College of Physicians of London - the.president@rcplondon.ac.uk
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow - president@rcpsg.ac.uk
Royal College of Psychiatrists - rcpsych@rcpsych.ac.uk
Royal College of Radiologists - andy_adam@rcr.ac.uk
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh - president@rcsed.ac.uk
Royal College of Surgeons of England - president@rcseng.ac.uk
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland - president@rcsi.ie
If you would like to discuss your College's response, or any aspect of revalidation, please contact info.ccsc@bma.org.uk