BMJ  2005;330:1265-1268 (28 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7502.1265

Education and debate

GMC and the future of revalidation

Patients, professionalism, and revalidation

¹ Fairmoor, Morpeth NE61 3JL Picker Institute, Europe

Revalidation is an essential part of professionalism directed at meeting patients' expectations of good care. The GMC must rise to the challenge

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

Despite substantial efforts to modernise UK medical regulation, the General Medical Council still does not always put patients' safety first. That is Dame Janet Smith's main conclusion in the fifth report of the Shipman inquiry.¹ The approach to implementing revalidation illustrates her point. Although she found that "The foundation for a system of revalidation that would command public confidence had been well laid" by the GMC, it had been seriously weakened by "substantial changes" made recently to the method of implementation "for reasons of expediency." She said that the revised intentions, approved by the Department of Health, would no longer comprise an evaluation of a doctor's fitness to practise. Yet a competent evaluation is what the public had been led to expect and what the law now requires.

In this article I have set licensure and revalidation in the broader context of patient expectations and doctors' professionalism. I consider . . . [Full text of this article]

All patients are entitled to a good doctor

Make patient centred professionalism a priority

Accept that GMC's new model for regulating doctors is conceptually sound

The standards gap must be closed

Performance assessment is essential for revalidation

The GMC needs to be properly accountable to parliament

Conclusion

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Irvine, D. (2006). Success relies on winning hearts and minds. BMJ 333: 965-966 [Full text]  
• Norcini, J. J (2005). Where next with revalidation?. BMJ 330: 1458-1459 [Full text]  

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