GMC revalidation checklist: what you need to collect

Revalidation can feel like a pile of paperwork. This checklist follows the GMC’s own guidance, in the order most doctors work through it. Check gmc-uk.org for the current wording before you rely on it.

• Tell the GMC your connection. In your GMC Online account, record your designated body and responsible officer (RO), or a suitable person, or tell the GMC that you have none. Keep it up to date, including if it changes temporarily.
• Have an annual appraisal that is based on Good medical practice and covers your whole scope of practice in the UK.
• Collect the six types of supporting information below, and reflect on them with your appraiser.
• Send the GMC whatever it asks for about your revalidation, usually within 28 days.

You can’t choose your designated body, and a body can’t choose you. The GMC’s connection tool helps you work out where you stand.

The GMC says how often you need each one in its supporting information guidance.

• Continuing professional development (CPD). Every year, covering your whole practice. The GMC doesn’t set a number of CPD points. You reflect on what you learned and how it improved your practice. See CPD requirements by royal college, and mandatory training and revalidation.
• Quality improvement activity. At least once in your revalidation cycle. Your RO or suitable person agrees what is appropriate for your scope of practice. See quality improvement activity explained.
• Significant events. Declare and reflect on every significant event you were involved in since your last appraisal. If you had none, you declare that. See significant events and complaints for appraisal.
• Patient feedback. At least once in each cycle, through a formal, solicited exercise. If you have no patients, you reflect on feedback from others you provide services to. If you can’t collect any, agree with your RO or suitable person that you don’t need to. See our guide to how many responses you need, and patient and colleague feedback for appraisal.
• Colleague feedback. At least once in your cycle, from colleagues across your whole scope of practice, including people who aren’t doctors. Choose them impartially. Wherever possible, use a validated questionnaire that is independently administered. See MSF for locum doctors.
• Complaints and compliments. Declare and reflect on every formal complaint since your last appraisal. If you have none, you can reflect on relevant local complaints or compliments. See the same guide.

Some doctors have neither a designated body nor an approved suitable person, for example some doctors in private practice, or doctors with limited UK work. The GMC sets extra requirements for you.

1. You are responsible for your own appraisal. You must have an annual appraisal that:

• is carried out by a licensed doctor who meets the GMC’s appraiser criteria (below);
• takes place in the same room or by video link, so that you can see each other;
• uses systems that allow your supporting information to be verified; and
• is based on a structured appraisal form that summarises the discussion, what you submitted, what you didn’t and why, and what you will submit next year.

2. Your appraiser must meet the GMC’s criteria. According to the GMC, your appraiser must:

• hold a GMC licence to practise;
• have a prescribed connection to a designated body, or a suitable person the GMC has approved;
• have been recently trained to carry out appraisals for revalidation;
• have carried out at least five appraisals for the body they appraise for in the 12 months before yours;
• have no conflict of interest with you; and
• be able to verify that your supporting information is fit for purpose.

You can check an appraiser’s registration on the GMC’s medical register.

3. Your appraiser completes the REV12 form. After your appraisal, your appraiser must complete the GMC’s Appraiser report form, known as REV12, You must not complete any part of it yourself. Your appraiser gives you the signed form, and you upload it to your annual return once the GMC has given you notice that it is due. If you had more than one appraisal in the period, you upload a form for each. The GMC may contact your appraiser to verify it, and discourages handwritten forms. See our REV12 form explained.

4. You submit an annual return. You do this through your GMC Online account, usually once a year, with at least three months’ notice. You can save your progress and edit it until you submit. It covers your employment and practice history for the whole 12-month period, your registration and licensing history, your fitness-to-practise declaration and details of your appraisals, and you upload your REV12 form with it. A fee is payable when you submit it, so check the current amount with the GMC. If the GMC asks for more information, you must respond within 28 days. If you don’t meet the GMC’s requirements and give no reasonable excuse, it will begin the process of withdrawing your licence to practise. If you can’t complete it online, the GMC has a paper version, REV10. See how to revalidate without a responsible officer.

5. You may be asked to take a revalidation assessment. The GMC usually asks for this in the year you are due to revalidate, and you must meet its standard. It may also ask for a certificate of good standing if you have been registered overseas.

6. Check whether you can connect to a body after all. If you are working in the UK, the GMC suggests exploring whether you can connect to one of the membership organisations that are also designated bodies: the British College of Aesthetic Medicine, the Faculty of Homeopathy, the Faculty of Medical Leadership & Management, the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, the Faculty of Public Health and the Independent Doctors Federation. Contact them directly to find out whether you meet their criteria. See also how to revalidate without a responsible officer.

If you are planning a long break in practice or working outside the UK, the GMC says you may wish to consider temporarily giving up your licence. It usually advises doctors taking a career break of more than 12 months, with no work, to give up their licence, and says you do not need one if you work wholly overseas for more than 12 months. Read its guidance on restoring a licence first, and see giving up your GMC licence to practise before you decide.

• Reflect on what you collect. Your appraiser wants to see what you learned and what you changed, not just documents.
• Cover all of your UK practice, including private and locum work.
• Tell your RO or suitable person about significant events, complaints, fitness-to-practise concerns and any suspension or restriction.
• Keep your evidence. The GMC says to keep the supporting information from every appraisal since you last revalidated.

• Keep your records in one place, because no single employer will do it for you.
• Ask for colleague feedback from each place you work, and collect patient feedback where you can.
• Start early in each cycle, so you aren’t chasing evidence near your date.

Independent GMC appraisal and online MSF feedback, from one GMC appraiser.

Beyond the six types, the GMC also asks for a description of your practice and probity and health statements. See scope of practice, probity and health statements.

Work privately? See revalidation for doctors in private practice.

Planning next year? See personal development plan (PDP) for appraisal, with a free template.

Need help with reflections? See writing reflections for appraisal, with a free template.

Not sure how appraisal differs from revalidation? See appraisal vs revalidation. Not sure what a designated body is? See designated body and responsible officer explained.

Sources: GMC, Revalidation requirements for doctors; Additional requirements for doctors without a connection; Guidance on supporting information for revalidation.