Advice for specialists changing employer or nature of employment - maintaining revalidation and appraisal records
This advice is intended for specialists and consultants who are changing their employer, organisation, or nature of employment and who are required to maintain the evidence required to support their professional revalidation and ability to continue to hold a licence to practice. It does not apply to specialty registrars in training as there are different arrangements managed by their Deanery.
It is the individual responsibility of the specialist or consultant to ensure they retain and carry forward any documentation needed to demonstrate compliance with revalidation requirements, thereby maintaining their ability to retain their licence to practice at the point of revalidation.
The principle is the same for both GMC and UKPHR registrants. Specialists and consultants must be able to provide evidence of appraisal, including the outcomes, covering each whole revalidation cycle. The primary evidence is appraisal documentation. This should include a record of how they meet their registering body’s requirements for revalidation. Members should remember that both the GMC and UKPHR expect this to develop across the whole cycle, so the summary of just the last appraisal is not sufficient.
Responsibility for maintaining and providing appraisal and revalidation evidence rests with the individual practitioner. Specialists and consultants should therefore retain copies of appraisal summaries and other relevant revalidation documentation and ensure these records remain accessible throughout their career. When changing employer, members should maintain a complete and continuous record of their appraisal and revalidation evidence. While organisations and Responsible Officers (ROs) may have processes for sharing information, these do not replace the individual's responsibility to retain their own records.
Specialists and consultants should also be aware that separate processes support revalidation and clinical governance when changing employer. For GMC registrants, a new RO may seek information from the previous RO regarding any significant concerns about the individual. For UKPHR registrants, UKPHR may seek information on fitness for registration from current or previous employers at the time of revalidation. This process is separate from standard employment references and does not replace the specialists' responsibility to maintain their own revalidation records.
