Medical Revalidation:

Vision for the Future

Dr Mike Bewick

Senior Responsible Owner

Medical Revalidation, NHS England

Brighton

4 June 2014

Where we are..

• A great start – we are on track in terms of the numbers of doctors going through the system, with policies, calibrating and QA mechanisms in place and process largely in place

• Recommendations being made as per the process – and licences are being withdrawn, for the right reasons

2 NHS England | Presentation to Ahead of the Curve Conference, Brighton 4-5 June 2104

Challenges and issues

• Engagement of all doctors in the wider quality improvement aspects of revalidation, rather than mere compliance

• Engagement of boards in their responsibilities as designated bodies under the Responsible Officer Regulations

• Achieving demonstrable consistency and rigour will always require, commitment energy and effort

3 NHS England | Presentation to Ahead of the Curve Conference, Brighton 4-5 June 2104

That Said:

• We have work underway and processes in place, addressing these challenges

• We have funding in place

• We are recruiting both centrally and at the regions to substantive teams to provide support over the next 2 years of increased throughput

4 NHS England | Presentation to Ahead of the Curve Conference, Brighton 4-5 June 2104

So What Next?

• This is the greatest opportunity we - and the profession – has ever had to set, defend and enhance professional clinical standards across the whole system

• Having reached the point of implementation it is crucial that we don’t now sit back and think that we have finished the job

5 NHS England | Presentation to Ahead of the Curve Conference, Brighton 4-5 June 2104

The Foundations

• What we have now are the building blocks, the foundations of a solid infrastructure for professional standards

• As medical leaders, it is our duty to make sure we use this unique opportunity to build the mechanisms, structures and processes that will serve to improve the safety and quality of care for patients, year on year

6 NHS England | Presentation to Ahead of the Curve Conference, Brighton 4-5 June 2104

Our Role

• We have a responsibility – as the pioneers and champions of revalidation – to ensure that we continue to strengthen, develop and exploit the benefits of the system

• There will be challenges. As revalidation passes from a ‘new idea’ to business as usual; experience tells us that the norm is for a ‘dumbing down’ when a large project is implemented across an entire system

• Our job is to make sure that doesn’t happen7

Improving care – for both patients and doctors

• What matters is that the effort, resource and time invested in revalidation continues to develop – to improve the quality and safety of care for patients

• We also have a duty of care to our colleagues. Our development of the systems supporting revalidation will be based on the principle of identifying and then supporting doctors facing difficulties, finding solutions that work8

As the guardian of the implementation of revalidation, my view is:

• Whatever turbulence comes our way – and it will, for that is the nature of the NHS and healthcare in general – the profession will standardise, drive and develop the standards of care delivered to patients

• We will do so in a way that cares for doctors, their well-being, health and their further development

9 NHS England | Presentation to Ahead of the Curve Conference, Brighton 4-5 June 2104

The next few years

• Most likely - will see considerable change

• May feel uncomfortable at times

• But - we have made major progress on maintaining and raising professional standards – which lie at the heart of revalidation

• Together – as a profession – we will continue to do this, to build on the foundations that are now firmly in place and to use every piece of leverage afforded by revalidation and its underpinning processes to further our cause10