GMC revalidation scheme passes first hurdle

Inspectors have declared the proposed scheme to revalidate all UK doctors a success after a pilot study showed the “folder and appraisal” method to be relatively straightforward both to assemble and to assess.

A team of experts assigned by the General Medical Council to test the feasibility of revalidation collected over 250 folders from volunteer doctors earlier this year. Out of these, 80 folders were selected for inspection by revalidation panels made up of doctors and lay people. The 80 folders were chosen in equal numbers from four groups: general practitioners, surgeons and anaesthetists, hospital physicians, and others (doctors from …