NMC revalidation: is it friend or foe?

Hi all, hope everyone's well.

Winter is on the way and it's easy to see the pressure on general practice is increasing and, of course this has an impact for GPNs. And for some, keeping up with revalidation has slipped! Therefore, I felt compelled to share some stories from GPNs who had lapsed completion of their revalidation.

‘I had asked my colleague to be my confirmer she had the paperwork but due to ill health and heavy workload I missed the date and it took 4 weeks to get back on the register which meant was paid as an HCA for the 4 weeks.’

‘Such a scary time, I felt sick with worry, problem with direct debit and my practice were not supportive.’

‘Will never miss my revalidation date again.’

They are not alone, the NMC revalidation data 1st April 2022 to 31 March 2023, shows 6,729 professionals revalidated after their due date.

As we know revalidation for nurses and midwives in the UK started in 2016, the purpose of revalidation is to improve public protection by making sure that nurses, midwives and nursing associates demonstrate their continued ability to practise safely and effectively throughout their career.