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Revalidation is changing clinical practice, claims GMC

Putting doctors through revalidation is changing clinical practice, the GMC has claimed.

A GMC-commissioned review found that, overall, 42% of doctors had changed their practice as a result of their most recent appraisal.

Although a majority of all doctors (58%) had not done so, the GMC said the findings showed that among under-50s around half did change their clinical practice following their appraisal.

The interim report, which comes as part of a wider three-year GMC review on the impact of revalidation led by the UMbRELLA group (UK Medical Revalidation Evaluation Collaboration), also found that:

  • Less than half of respondents agreed that appraisal is an effective way to help improve clinical practice.
  • Responding doctors were divided in their opinions about the impact of revalidation on appraisal, with less than a third believing that revalidation has had a somewhat or very positive impact on appraisal.
  • Around a third of doctors said revalidation has improved the appraisal process.

GMC chief executive Niall Dickson said findings that showed that ‘revalidation is starting to have an impact’, which he said was ‘encouraging for patients and doctors’.

He added: ‘But we cannot be complacent – both reports highlight issues which show the system can be improved. We want revalidation to be a positive experience and we want to maximise how it can contribute to high-quality and safer care.

‘At the same time, we fully understand the pressures that doctors are under and the different context they are working in.’