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REVALIDATION
What Is Revalidation?
Revalidation is a process that aims to increase practice standards for nurses and midwives. Replacing the outgoing Prep requirements, it is the new industry standard, reassuring the public that nurses and midwives are fit to practise.
Why Is Revalidation Happening?
Simply put, to increase professional standards among nurses and midwives
In 2013, the Francis Report – a commission looking into nursing and midwifery – concluded that the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s monitoring system was not assessing nurses strictly enough.
The commission suggested a new process that would strengthen the current three-year registration processes and increase professionalism in the sector. That process was revalidation.
What Do I Have To Do To Revalidate?
As it stands, 16,000 nurses and midwives are set to revalidate in April 2016, with the entire workforce of approximately 685,000 expected to also undergo the process within the next three years. Those chosen will have been informed by the NMC through either email or letter 60 days before the April deadline.
If you are part of the first set renewing their membership this April, then it is integral to know exactly what the NMC expects of you. This is because if you do not revalidate, you are no longer allowed to practice as a nurse or midwife.
Even if you don’t have to revalidate for a while, it is still recommended that you continue to read on, just to be aware and stay on top of your revalidation requirements.
What Do I Have To Do To Revalidate?
You will need to meet the revalidation criteria in six key areas in six key areas:
1. Practice Hours
All nurses and midwives, including those who have completed the specialist community public health nursing course, must have completed a minimum of 450 hours practice. If you are both a nurse and midwife, you need to complete a minimum of 900 hours practice – 450 for nursing, 450 for midwifery.
2. Practice-Related Feedback
During your practice, you must have received at least five pieces of related feedback, whether in verbal or written form. They can come from service users, colleagues or managers and you must said how you took the feedback on board in your practice.
3. Continuing Professional Development
As well as logging practice hours, you must also complete 35 hours of relevant continuous professional development within the same three-year period
Twenty of these hours must have been spent in participatory learning – interacting with fellow professionals in training activities such as workshops, conferences or training courses.
4. Written Reflective Accounts
Of the CPD described above, you must have written at least five reflective accounts in an approved, appropriate manner. Each account must explain how they relate back to ‘The Code’– the NMC’s professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses and midwives.
5. Reflective Discussion
You are required to discuss your written reflections with another NMC registrant, and how they relate to the NMC code mentioned previously.
After this discussion, make sure the NMC registrant signs the appropriate form, which requires them to leave their name, email and NMC Pin, as well as the date.
6. Health and Character
In order to be revalidated, you must submit a health and character declaration. This comprises a declaration of whether you have a conviction or caution, and whether your fitness to practice has been called into question by a professional body. You must also declare that your health is reasonable enough to practice effectively.
Reams of evidence are not required here – all you need is a declaration that you meet the standards set out in the NMC’s code.
7. Professional Indemnity Arrangement
Finally, you must declare that you have – or will have – an indemnity arrangement in place for appropriate cover when you are practicing. This is a legal requirement for all nurses and midwives, so be sure to double-check you have it.
Much like with the health and character declaration, you do not need to provide evidence of your cover – you only need to confirm that it exists.
How Do I Submit My Revalidation?
Confirmation and Confirmers
To confirm your revalidation, you must ensure that you have demonstrated to a third party, your compliance with revalidation’s requirements.
The confirmer tends to be your line manager – it’s more convenient if your confirmer is the same person you had reflective discussions with – but that's not necessary. The confirmer will have to provide their name, NMC Pin, email address, professional address and postcode, alongside any other relevant professional identification number.
Submission
Your application should be submitted at the point of renewing your registration with the NMC. You won’t need to complete the application in one go – you can save your progress and return to it later. The process on the NMC website is simple and easy-to-understand on each page.
When your application has been successfully completed, the NMC will email to confirm your registration’s renewal.
Verification
A small sample of nurses and midwives are taken and asked to provide more information about their submission. This is for quality control, and selection is completely random.
You will know if you have been selected for verification within 48 hours of your application’s submission. You can then log back onto your NMC account to see the confirmation.
Where Can I Find Out More?
The NMC’s Revalidation Homepage – http://revalidation.nmc.org.uk/
or Contact Ambience Care Ltd & one of our consultants will help you, should you have any queries.