School of Medicine

Abstract

Revalidation is a long awaited policy development first proposed over 12 years ago and currently scheduled to start in late 2012. It will be a process in which all doctors in the UK will be asked to provide evidence that they are fit to practise on a 5 yearly cycle. However Revalidation is not straightforward. It still remains controversial within the medical profession.

Through a three stage research programme we are exploring what Revalidation means in terms of policy, its implementation and impact in practice, and how it shapes and has been shaped by the media and patients. The first stage of the research asks what really is Revalidation? What is the policy, why is it needed and why is it needed now? We hypothesise that without a clear understanding of their answers, Revalidation is at risk of failing in its aims: ‘to confirm that licensed doctors’ practice in accordance with the GMC’s generic standards…and to identify those who require further investigation and remediation....’ Complex poorly understood and poorly articulated policy leads to unintended consequences, which may be negative, as well as the risk of not achieving the proposed intended aims.

Biography

Dr Julian Archer is a NIHR Career Development Fellow; the first senior NIHR Fellowship awarded to a medical education researcher. As a Senior Clinical Lecturer in medical education based at the Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry, Plymouth University, his research explores the utility of workplace based assessment (WBA) with healthcare professionals. This work includes recent programmatic research funded by the NIHR and the Health Foundation to understand the discourses and impact of Revalidation as it is launched in the UK over the next 5 years. Dr Archer practises clinically as an honorary consultant behavioural paediatrician.

He advises the National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS), various Royal Colleges, the General Medical Council (GMC) and other bodies helping to shape national and international policy in WBA. In particular Dr Archer’s work on Multisource Feedback is used or has directly shaped practice across the world most recently in Japan, Denmark, and Switzerland.