The GMC will contact GPs in August to reschedule revalidation, Pulse reports.
Doctors due to go through revalidation between March 2020 and March 2021 delayed revalidation as they tackled new challenges during the pandemic.
Una Lane, the GMC’s director of registration and revalidation, told Pulse: “In the coming weeks we’ll begin contacting doctors who have revalidation dates scheduled from August 2021 to explain next steps and outline options for those not yet ready to revalidate.
“In light of pandemic pressures, last year we rescheduled dates for over 60,000 doctors with the flexibility to complete their revalidation earlier should they wish to do so – over a third chose this option.”
Dr Richard Fieldhouse said: “This announcement might not be everyone’s idea of a good news story, but it is a good indicator of back to ‘business as usual’ for GP locums.
“The appraisal process requires a significant amount of resources to undertake, and so a close eye will need to be kept on any impact on the provision of regular GP services that must not be allowed to harm patient care.
“Sessional GPs will be under huge pressure when preparing for appraisal in 2021 – particularly for GP locums, who are preparing alone, without protected time. The NASGP supports members with its original AppraisalAid tool, tailored to cover everything sessional GPs might need to collect evidence.”
Keeping up with your appraisal and producing multi-source feedback probably aren’t your favourite parts of being a GP locum, but appraisal doesn’t have to be a burden. You’re creating a lot of the evidence you need in your day-to-day work – the main task is recording it. That’s why we developed AppraisalAid. Find out more.