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Alere Breakfast Symposium: Page 12
AGM Conference Highlights: Page 10
Update on chronic stable angina: Page 11
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How does your team feel about revalidation?
Issue 3 | www.agmconference.co.uk
Revalidation: are you ready for change?
Major change in service is necessary Nine out of ten NHS trusts say that a hospital merger, closure or changing the way services are provided will be necessary in their area in the next two years. The survey by the Foundation Trust Network also reveals that eight in ten trusts feel that a reconfiguration in their area would improve or at least maintain patient outcomes. But objections by local councillors and other NHS trusts are considered to be the biggest barriers to service change followed by MPs.
With the launch of revalidation less than a month away the GMC is ramping up its publicity campaign to assure doctors that they have nothing to fear from the new regulatory system. Current concerns about revalidation include: appraisal rates are still too low in many NHS trusts; secondary care doctors will not have enough professional time and resources to complete revalidation at a time when they are already under pressure to deliver a more efficient service; the whole process will be onerous and bureaucratic and the needs of locums have not been addressed. GMC chair, Professor Sir Peter Rubin, is confident that most of these problems can be overcome. He says that revalidation is ready to start - the latest Department of Health figures show that over 80% of NHS locations are prepared and have enough trained appraisers. Revalidation for most doctor does not start until April 2013 and then only 20 per cent of doctors will be revalidated in that first year so there is still plenty of time for those trusts that are not ready, to catch up. Regarding consultants’ concerns about employers not providing them with enough SPA (supporting professional activity) time for revalidation Professor Rubin says they are aware of these worries, although he points out that they did not arise during pilots they carried out. The GMC has recruited employment liaison advisers to work in every region whose job will be to maintain close contact with responsible officers and troubleshoot any workplace problems early on. A key issue raised by doctors during the pilots was that the new system should be simplified and streamlined. Professor Rubin says lessons learned from consultations and pilots have ensured that the process is as good as it can be when it starts. Issues with revalidating locums still have to be resolved, admits Professor Rubin. “The locum agencies are the designated bodies so they will be required to confirm that all doctors on their books are up to date and fit to practice. However we do know that in order to fulfil some of the requirements for their appraisals locums will need information which is not always easy to access. Both the GMC and the Department of Health are aware of the problem and it is being actively worked on.” Junior doctors are concerned that the requirement to ‘reflect’
Professor Sir Peter Rubin on Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs) and Significant Event (SE) information as part of their specialty training could create a significant administrative burden and result in cases of double jeopardy. Professor Rubin says the system of juniors reflecting on their work when things have gone wrong is required for mistakes to be learned from in an NHS with an open culture. It will not change the threshold where their fitness to practise is called into question. Professor Rubin has been touring the country for the last three years talking to doctors about revalidation. All doctors have already been written to and in the next two or three months will be contacted with information about their date for revalidation. “I really do think that a few years down the road when revalidation has become part of the normal landscape people will wonder what was all the fuss about,” he says.
The Medical Leaders Symposium The Future of Postgraduate Medical Education
Get your questions answered at The Medical Leaders Symposium at AGM on 21 Novemeber at 6pm. Join the lively debate chaired by Peter Sharp, chief executive of the Centre for Workforce Intelligence and keynote by Professor Sir Peter Rubin. Shape the way forward and voice your opinions to the expert panel including Dr Tom Dolphin, former chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctor Committee, Christine Outram, former managing director of Medical Education England, Professor Wendy Reid, vice president for education of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Join the debate by booking your place at the leaders symposium by accessing My Seminars via www.agmconference.co.uk/connect
A separate survey of the public shows that the public is more open to discussion about changing services than the NHS thinks. When asked to rank the importance of having services close to home versus accessing specialist care when being treated for a serious condition, over half of respondents said that it would be more important to be treated in a unit that specialised in their treatment area. Continued on page 2
Innovative diabetes tool wins commendation at Quality in Care awards The Diabetesbible, an online guide which supports health professionals in diagnosing and managing diabetes has been commended at the Quality in Care awards in the Best Early Detection and Prevention Initiative category. Written by Dr Jeremy Turner, consultant endocrinologist and honorary senior lecturer Dr. Jeremy Turner in diabetes, endocrinology and general medicine, at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Diabetesbible adopts an innovative and clinically orientated interactive approach. Unlike a traditional textbook where people look things up, the tool is broken down into four headings: history, examinations, investigations and management, and each contains information in short, accessible chunks. Diabetesbible prompts doctors to ask the right questions when considering any given diabetes diagnosis; it outlines the features to look for when examining the patient; and it helps doctors decide which investigations are appropriate for an individual case. It includes an up-to-date list of protocols for performing common investigations and its information is consistent with current NICE and SIGN guidelines. Continued on page 6
Connect with delegates, book your free lunch and download your own programme at www.agmconference.co.uk/connect
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