Nottinghamshire Healthcare has today been announced as one of ten organisations in England, and the only mental health trust, to test a new system of ensuring doctors are fit to practice.
The new process of revalidation has been designed to provide assurance that practitioners are up to date with medical advances by requiring that their licences are revalidated by the General Medical Council every five years. The pilot studies are a key stage towards introducing this new system across the UK and will:
· test the role of the responsible officer - the senior doctor with local responsibility for overseeing the revalidation process
· test the proposals for a strengthened form of medical appraisal
· look at the role of the Medical Royal Colleges or Faculties to support revalidation.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: “These pilots will provide the NHS with the opportunity to test out how the new system should work in practice.
“Revalidation will provide the scrutiny that patients rightly expect and provide assurance that the doctor who is treating them is keeping up to date and has all the skills and competencies necessary to do a good job.”
The pilots will be independently evaluated and those involved will be consulted with throughout to ensure that a process is found which will inspire confidence but not prove overly bureaucratic or expensive.
Dr Peter Miller, Medical Director for Nottinghamshire Healthcare said: “We are delighted to be part of this pilot, and be instrumental in paving the way for a new robust system. At Nottinghamshire Healthcare we welcome any advances in ensuring quality and safety of patient care. Not only will the new appraisal help to confirm that doctors are keeping their skills and knowledge up to date, but it will also provide the opportunity to reflect on their practice and identify learning needs for their ongoing professional development.”
The Trust was chosen as a pilot site from more than 80 organisations which applied. Applications were analysed to ensure capacity and capability to deliver a project of this nature, value for money, number and type of potential participants and proposed recruitment strategy. Diversity in location, type of organisation and population covered was also considered, as was the state of preparedness of the organisation for revalidation.
The pilot will begin this month and run until 31 March 2011.
