The General Medical Council and the future of revalidation: Revalidation, discretionary points, clinical excellence awards--steps on the same ladder

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1446-a

BMJ 2005;330:1446 (18 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1446-a

Letter

The General Medical Council and the future of revalidation

Revalidation, discretionary points, clinical excellence awards—steps on the same ladder

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

EDITOR—With reference to the article by Esmail,¹ the purposeof revalidation is to ensure that doctors provide safe, effectivehealth care for patients. The quality of health care that thepatient receives could therefore be the basis of revalidation,rather than a measure of the skills and knowledge of the doctor.

Clinical governance could be adapted for purposes of revalidationas the means by which a doctor is held responsible and assessedto ensure the provision of a high quality of health care andthe maintenance of the means to achieve it. Revalidation couldbe granted for fulfilling the requirements of clinical governance.

The advisory committee on clinical excellence awards administersa tried and tested scheme for granting clinical excellence awards,and the trusts have committees responsible for the grantingof discretionary points in an integrated scheme. Revalidationcould be incorporated in this scheme avoiding a plethora of. . . [Full text of this article]

Anton E A Joseph, consultant radiologist

Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust, Croydon, Surrey CR7 7YE aeajoseph@hotmail.com