This section of the site provides guidance for RCOG Fellows, Members and Trainees on how to prepare for revalidation.
What can I be doing to get ready for revalidation?
There are several things you should be doing to get ready for revalidation:
- Have regular appraisals
- Collect your supporting documents for appraisal
- Know your designated body and responsible officer
- Set up a GMC Online account – or, if you already have an account, sign in and check that your details are correct
How can I meet the GMC requirements for revalidation in my first cycle?
In order to have a revalidation recommendation made about you, you must:
- Be participating in an annual appraisal process which has the Good Medical Practice guidelines as its focus and which covers all of your medical practice.
- Have completed at least one such appraisal
- Have demonstrated, through appraisal, that you have collected and reflected on the following information, as outlined in the GMC’s guidance Supporting information for appraisal and revalidation.
Reflective learning
It’s important that you demonstrate what you’ve learned from participating in each of the activities listed above. You can do this by engaging in reflective learning. For more information, visit the Reflection page.
Find out more
You should also consult the O&G specific revalidation resource prepared by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) and the RCOG. This document provides detail on updated Academy and RCOG recommendations to enable doctors to fulfil the GMC requirements for appraisal and revalidation while protecting their time for patient care. There is no significant change to the six types of supporting information required by the GMC for a positive revalidation recommendation:
- Continuing professional development (CPD)
- Quality improvement activities (QIA)
- Significant events (SE)
- Feedback from patients or those to whom you provide medical services
- Feedback from colleagues
- Review of compliments and complaints
Each section in the document is structured to highlight the GMC’s principles and requirements, followed by comments and updated Academy recommendations. Although the types of supporting information are the same for all doctors, the RCOG has included supplementary specialty-specific advice at the end of the sections where appropriate.
It is worthwhile to specifically take note of the section on ‘Quality, not quantity, and proportionality’. The GMC and AoRMC make it very clear that you do not need to upload every piece of supporting information that you can find: it is about finding representative pieces of information that reflect the scope of your practice, and are useful for reflection and learning