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Video: ‘There is still quite a lot of work to be done on revalidation’

Watch GMC chief executive Niall Dickson discuss revalidation - its pilots, progress and the 2012 deadline.

In the interview, Mr Dickson also covered the much-debated topics of whether GPs are right to pray with patients. Recent guidance from the GMC cited by the Medical Defence Union declared that tactful offers of prayer could be appropriate in certain consultations.

‘There are times when patients may have a spiritual problem, but that's very different from having it as an objective of the consultation that I'm going to convert you to my set of beliefs,' he said.

Following a Pulse survey that found half of GPs backed a change in the rules on sexual relationships with patients, Mr Dickson warned: ‘One has to apply professional judgement and be aware of the asymmetry of the relationship between doctor and patient, the patient almost always being vulnerable relative to the doctor.'