Dear NELG Member,
Dear Colleague
This newsletter brings you an update on education and specially on whats happening in revalidation and recertification (adapted from guidance written by Di Jelley- deanery appraisal lead).
This month’s sessional GP programme is on the 1st of October:
• Social /buffet from 7pm
• CPR training from 7.30 (presently fully booked, registration by 7.10 after which any empty places will be released to reserve names)
• 8pm- “Money matters” talk on the new NHS pension scheme and also “Tax for locums” ( RMT)
This will take place at WALKERGATE PARK HOSPITAL, BENFIELD ROAD (take the turn for Newcastle PCT).
As laid out in the White Paper “Medical revalidation- The next steps” ; CMO July 2008
(adapted from Di Jelley’s summary of this white paper)
The components of revalidation
Revalidation will have two components
o Re-licensing –successful completion of annual appraisal, periodic external multi-source feedback and a ‘sign-off” by the Primary Care Organisation that there are no concerns about the GP.
o Re-certification-specification of clear standards by each Royal College, and evaluation of specialist practice against these standards
Appraisal, and the evidence submitted to support it, will be central to both these processes.
The aim is that the appraisal process will retain a predominantly formative emphasis, with a new the core GMC module supporting appraisees to provide the evidence of their fitness to practise required for revalidation. This module -Good Medical Practice- will be used in every appraisal scheme.
The GMC appraisal module has four domains:
• knowledge, skills and performance
• safety and quality
• communication , partnership and teamwork
• maintaining trust
The module will set out the types of evidence to be submitted for each of these (eg; audit , case reviews , complaints, significant event reviews, PDP review, multi source feedback etc).
Re-certification will provide reassurance that doctors possess the skills and competencies appropriate to their specialist area. Standards for re-certification will be broadly those required for initial entry to that speciality, but evidence required for this will be gathered over the whole five year cycle not on a single ‘big day’ of assessment.
The local ‘responsible officer’ (usually the medical director) will ensure that appraisals are carried out to a good standard, work with doctors to address any shortfalls, ensure any concerns have been addressed, and collate this information to support the recommendation of revalidation for each individual doctor to the GMC on a five yearly basis.
Robust local performance review systems must be able to detect any concerns at an early stage, and take effective action to respond to any impaired practice.
This is based on the RCGP paper on this subject. To read the full paper visit the RCGP website.
Each GP will develop their own ‘portfolio of learning’, comprising a minimum of 50 CPD credits per year, and 250 over a five year cycle.
Credits will be allocated to a wide range of CPD activities (eg: attending meetings or courses, doing audits or case reviews, internet learning modules etc), with a strong emphasis on reflection and changing practice where this is indicated.
The ‘credit value’ of an activity will be initially judged by the learner (and subsequently checked by the appraiser at appraisal) and should reflect the degree of challenge it represents and the impact it has on personal development and patient care.
“The four domains of Good Medical Practice2 and the core curriculum statement Being a General Practitioner3 for GP specialty training will form a basis against which the balance of successive CPD portfolio contents over a 5 year revalidation cycle may be judged. The accreditation framework for CPD will help practicing GPs fulfill the requirements of the forthcoming revalidation process for all GPs.”
The number of credits claimed by an individual for an activity will be self assessed and then verified by the appraiser.
A credit is a unit of professional development which is a product of the impact of a developmental activity and to a lesser extent the challenge involved in its completion.
Impact in this context may include
• Impact on the individual (personal development)
• Impact on service (e.g. becoming a training practice, teaching others, implementing a clinic system)
• Impact on patients (e.g. a change in practice, initiating a new drug – this has obvious overlaps with personal development)
Challenge in this context may be
• Context related (e.g. more challenging to become a new training practice than a trainer in an established training practice)
• Related to circumstances (e.g. a sessional GP undertaking audit is often faced with problems around the data and follow up)
• Related to personal ability (e.g. personal disability, prior skills, prior experience etc.)
• Related to effort expended (e.g. attending an ophthalmology clinic for a whole day 40 miles away to gain experience)
A northern deanery pilot is currently recruiting to a national pilot of this credit system. If you wish to be involved please contact Di Jelley (di.jelley@nhs.net) or visit the deanery website (appraisal pag).