As you will be aware it is the GMC’s intention that all trainees should be revalidated every five years and at the time of the award of their CCT. The GMC usually sets your revalidation date about two months after your anticipated CCT date to facilitate this. As a trainee your name is on the GMC Connect list associated with Health Education North East (HENE) as your designated body.

The revalidation recommendation will be made by the HENE Responsible Officer (RO). At present this is Professor Namita Kumar. The recommendation will be made on the basis of the information already contained in your training portfolio and final ARCP, provided that there are no outstanding issues or investigations in which you are involved, you will not be required to provide further information.

When you take up employment subsequently your name will have to be transferred from the GMC Connect list to that of your new employer. It is important that the Responsible Officer (RO) at HENE makes the recommendation to the GMC to support your revalidation before your name is transferred as once this is done the connection with HENE is severed and we will no longer be able to make a recommendation.

If your name is removed before a revalidation recommendation is made by the Responsible Officer (RO) at HENE, responsibility for the recommendation will then fall to your new RO who may feel unable to make this and consequently defer the decision until you have collected evidence of your performance in your substantive role and had a full appraisal. Whilst not being a major issue this is an inconvenience you could probably do without.

HENE has a process to make the revalidation recommendation to the GMC as soon after your final ARCP as possible. However, it is apparent that for some trainees (particularly those undertaking GP training) there may be a very short period between the award of CCT and the move to a new post and the need to transfer to a new responsible body. Should this be the case with you then please ensure that the recommendation has been made before your name is transferred from the HENE list. This can be done by checking your revalidation status and submission date on GMC On-line.

For those of you approaching CCT, here are three short videos which may help smooth the transition to senior practice and preparing for revalidation in the future.

If you have any questions or concerns about your revalidation recommendation you can contact the HENE revalidation team.