Revalidation is a new area to all concerned and there may be queries that are not answered through our FAQ’s. The following Revalidation FAQs for NIMDTA trainees have been adapted from London Deanery information. If you find your query is not answered in our FAQ’s please email revalidation.nimdta@hscni.net.
FAQs for Doctors in Postgraduate Training
What is the purpose of revalidation?
Meeting requirements for declaring Full Scope of Practice
What is a Responsible Officer?
What is a Designated Body?
Who is my Responsible Officer?
How will the GMC know who my “Designated Body” is?
How can I find out further information?
What do I need to do for this process?
In relation to completing the Form R, what is a significant event?
It is an expectation that all doctors as part of the requirements for revalidation are required to record and reflect on significant events in their work with the focus on what they have learnt as a result of the event/s.
The Form R asks for the last revalidation date, what should I enter?
The Form R asks for my revalidation date, what should I enter
All trainees who revalidate at 5 years, will revalidate again at CCT. For trainees who gain full registration with a licence to practise after December 2012, their revalidation date will be set to 5 years after full registration (or to your expected CCT date where this comes first).
Where can I find the GMC programme approval number and/or Deanery Reference Number/National Training Number?
What role does my employer have in my revalidation?
An exit report will be generated for every episode of employment since the last ARCP, and it is the employers’ responsibility to produce this. A failure of an employer to produce adequate information should not be detrimental to the trainee.
In the case of GP Trainees, where they have undertaken a placement in general practice and been registered on the PCT Medical Performers List, the PCT will also be required to supply information to the Deanery.
This information will be provided under three headings:-
Conduct/capability investigation
The employer will be asked to confirm whether you have been involved in a conduct or capability investigation and to provide a brief summary (the Exception report).
If so, has this been resolved satisfactorily with no unresolved concerns about your conduct?
If there are unresolved concerns, they will be asked to give a brief summary (the Exception Report) and the anticipated date of the outcome of any investigation.
Serious Untoward Incident/Significant Event investigation
If you have been involved in a Serious Untoward Incident (see GMC definition above), whether investigated or not, you should have discussed it with your educational supervisor and reflected on the outcome in your portfolio as part of the normal education appraisal process.
The employer will be asked if you have been involved in a formal Serious Untoward Incident/Significant Event Investigation and to provide a brief summary (the Exception report).
If so, has this been resolved satisfactorily with no unresolved concerns about your fitness to practice?
If there are unresolved concerns, they will be asked to give a brief summary and the anticipated date of the outcome of any investigation
Complaints
If you know you have been involved in a complaint you should have discussed it with your educational supervisor and reflected on the outcome in your portfolio as part of the normal educational appraisal process.
The employer will be asked if you have been named in a complaint and to provide a brief summary (the Exception Report).
If so, has this been resolved satisfactorily with no unresolved concerns about your fitness to practice?
If there are unresolved concerns, they will be asked to give a brief summary and the anticipated date of the outcome of any investigation
How often will my employer be asked for this information?
How will I know if I have been recommended or not for revalidation?
You will receive a formal notification of your revalidation decision from the GMC.
How is my grace period accounted for?
Who is the Postgraduate Dean responsible for?
If I get an outcome other than a 1 in my ARCP does that mean I will not get revalidation?
What happens if I am absent for a period of time or have a break from my training programme e.g. for maternity leave or out of programme experience; what effect will this have on my revalidation?
As part of my training I have developed competencies in other specialty areas. When I revalidate will I be revalidated to take account of these additional areas?
Once you have completed training your revalidation will be based on annual appraisals that reflect your full scope of practice. At that point many doctor’s careers spread out to cover areas beyond the specialty they trained in and this in turn will define their revalidation to affirm that they remain up-to-date and fit-for-purpose for their role(s).
FAQs for Doctors in Postgraduate Training involved with Serious Incidents
What is a Serious Incident?
- Unexpected or avoidable death of one or more patients, staff, visitors or members of the public;
- Serious harm to one or more patients, staff, visitors or members of the public or an outcome which requires life-saving or major surgical/medical intervention,
- Permanent harm, a reduction in life expectancy, prolonged pain or psychological harm;
- A scenario that prevents or threatens to prevent a provider organisation’s ability to continue to deliver healthcare services, e.g., actual or potential loss of personal/organisational information, damage to property, reputation or the environment, or IT failure;
- Allegations of abuse;
- Adverse media coverage or public concern;
- A ‘Never Event’ – these are updated annually by the Department of Health and currently include:
- wrong site surgery
- one or more retained instruments post-operatively
- chemotherapy administered via the wrong route
- misplaced nasogastric or oro-gastric tubes not detected prior to use
- in-patient suicide using non-collapsible rails
- in-hospital maternal death from postpartum haemorrhage after an elective caesarean section
- inadvertent administration of intravenous concentrated potassium chloride
What is the difference between a Serious Incident, a Critical Event, a Significant Event and a Serious Untoward Incident?
In 2010, the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) developed a national framework for the notification, management and learning from serious incidents in the NHS – National framework for reporting and learning from serious incidents requiring investigation. It also unified much of the terminology surrounding such incidents around the term Serious Incident.
Why does the Deanery need to be informed?
The communication channel is through the Responsible Officer The RO in the employing Trust (Medical Director) will have responsibility for doctors not in postgraduate training – they will also relay the relevant information to the Deanery RO about trainees. As a postgraduate trainee, your Responsible Officer (RO) is the Postgraduate Dean.
What does it mean to me as a trainee if I am implicated in an SI?
If you been involved in a SI your employer will be asked to provide a brief summary of the SI Investigation. If this has been resolved satisfactorily with no on-going concerns about your fitness to practise and you have reflected upon this appropriately, it will not effect your revalidation recommendation. If there are unresolved concerns, your employer will be asked to give a brief summary and the anticipated date of the outcome of any investigation. Should this happen at the time that you are due to be revalidated then your RO will request a deferment in order to give time for the investigation to conclude.
How can ensure that I benefit from the experience of being involved in an SI?
It is therefore important to take time to consider any learning needs that might have been identified through an SI and to discuss with your educational supervisor and other colleagues about how to begin to approach addressing these.
It is important to incorporate any learning needs into your personal development plan and to approach in a structured, realistic way alongside your other learning objectives. Usually SIs involve more than one person and sometimes whole teams are implicated. Therefore there may well be the opportunity to work together on planning and addressing learning needs.
How might being involved in an SI effect my future career?
Being involved in an SI can therefore give you the opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism and ability to reflect and adapt. This will be useful for your training record and can provide you with easy worked up answer to that sometime difficult interview question: “Tell us about a time when things did not go well for you. How did it make you feel? What did you do?”