The Collaboration for the Advancement of Medical Education, Research and Assessment (CAMERA) at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry has received a grant from The Health Foundation, an independent healthcare charity, to examine the role of public and patients in ‘medical revalidation’.
The grant funds the third phase of research supported by The Health Foundation into revalidation and its impact. The project has helped CAMERA shape the recent evaluation programme for the General Medical Council.
Revalidation for doctors was introduced in the UK in December 2012 and requires all doctors to demonstrate that they are 'up to date and fit to practise’. It consists of a five-year cycle review based on annual appraisals. The process includes feedback from colleagues and from patients.
The most recently funded project will explore current relationships between the public, patients and medical regulation, and how these might develop. It will investigate whether patients know they can get involved, if they actually want to get involved and, if they do, how best they can do so.
The study will also build on work carried out by CAMERA for a recent report into revalidation published by the NHS Revalidation Support Team, by looking at how doctors currently engage with their patients and members of the public around revalidation, and how that might be improved for mutual benefit.
Dr Sam Regan de Bere, lead for the research said:
“Medical revalidation is the biggest development in medical professionalism in the GMC’s history. It is important that patients and members of the public should play a role in the process but that role has to be meaningful. Our research aims to suggest guidelines to ensure that the involvement of patients and the public in medical revalidation is more than simply rhetoric.”
Dr Julian Archer, Director of CAMERA said:
“This most recent funding from the Health Foundation will allow us to complete our trilogy of work looking at the impact of medical revalidation from the perspective of policymakers, doctors, their patients and the public. We are delighted to be working with The Health Foundation again.”
Helen Crisp, Assistant Director of Research at The Health Foundation commented:
“We are keen to know how initiatives like revalidation work in practice for the benefit of patients. This research is timely and important for our understanding of what can work to improve quality of care.”
