Revalidation

Holding a medical qualification is not, on its own, enough to keep a doctor licensed indefinitely — the law requires periodic re-confirmation of fitness to practise. The Medical Act 1983, as amended, defines the concept directly: '"revalidation" means evaluation of a medical practitioner's fitness to practise.' The mechanism for that evaluation was introduced by the General Medical Council (Licence to Practise and Revalidation) Regulations 2012, whose Explanatory Memorandum records that 'the main purpose of the regulations is to include a requirement for the revalidation of medical practitioners, which will usually be carried out at five yearly intervals.'

The Explanatory Memorandum further confirms the practical stakes: 'revalidation is an evaluation of a medical practitioner's fitness to practise in order for that practitioner to continue to hold a licence to practise.' In practice, revalidation draws on a doctor's annual appraisals, feedback from colleagues and patients gathered periodically across the five-year cycle, and a recommendation from a Responsible Officer — a senior doctor within the organisation — to the GMC, which then decides whether to revalidate the doctor's licence.