How can doctors be assured that, after succeeding in four successive appraisals, they will not subsequently fail to be revalidated?
If appraisals effectively identify doctors who are not fit to practise, and there is no significant deterioration in the doctors practice in the last year, there should be no surprises at the revalidation stage. But no appraisal system is perfect and revalidation assessments may result in some doctors being referred to the GMCs fitness to practise procedures in order to protect patient safety. The registration of doctors participating in revalidation and providing sufficient information about their practice for revalidation assessment cannot be affected without full investigations under the fitness to practise procedures.
