Revalidation: The early experiences and views of responsible officers from London

In March 2013, The King’s Fund was commissioned by what is now the NHS England (London Region) Revalidation Team to carry out a small research study to capture the experiences and reflections of ROs in London. The team was particularly keen to understand the experiences of ROs from secondary care and mental health, so we undertook face-to-face interviews with a selection of ROs from those settings.

The study aimed to:

• create a snapshot of the overall experiences of and views on revalidation from ROs in a variety of health care organisations in London, including their views on improving the process
• review the performance status of doctors who have undergone revalidation as well as identifying ROs’ concerns about performance identified through revalidation
• capture the reflections of ROs on the impact of revalidation to date and in the future with specific reference to culture (ie, ‘how we do things around here’).

The purpose of the study was to enable NHS England (London Region) Revalidation Team to inform future rounds of revalidation and to continue to provide meaningful support to the London RO network.

The King’s Fund were interested in the impact that the introduction of revalidation had on the culture of organisations and specifically on whether ROs felt that it could contribute to the development of more reflective practitioners and have an impact on patient care.