Doctors urged to identify designated organisation in advance of revalidation

The General Medical Council has launched a campaign to encourage doctors to identify which organisation will be revalidating them.

The “Make your connection” campaign will first target doctors who do not have a prescribed link to a designated body under the responsible officer regulations and subsequently ask doctors for which the GMC has identified a designated body to confirm their connection.

The GMC is seeking to identify the designated body and responsible officer for each registered doctor so it knows which organisation will be submitting the doctor’s recommendation on revalidation.

A total of 719 designated bodies exist in the UK at present, which include NHS trusts, independent sector providers, the Independent Doctors’ Federation, postgraduate deaneries, and locum agencies. Every designated body has a responsible officer who will make a recommendation to the GMC every five years on whether a doctor is up to date, fit to practise, and should be revalidated.

For most doctors, the organisation in which they spend most or all of their practice is most likely to be the organisation that will provide them with their regular appraisal and will therefore help them revalidate.

The GMC has identified the designated body for more than 120 000 doctors by using NHS employment and performers list data. Designated bodies for the 50 000 doctors in training will be identified during the GMC’s national training survey.

The remaining 54 000 doctors—16 000 of whose addresses on the medical register are not in the UK—will be asked to work out and submit information on their designated body by using case studies and a decision making tool supplied by the GMC.