All Nurses have recently been made aware of the NMC revalidation that is taking place next year.
The new guidance comes into effect from April 2016. Which means every registered nurse will undergo revalidation at some point in the subsequent three years. If you fail to revalidate you will be removed from the register and unable to practise.
Although this seems daunting, Primary Care People wanted to ensure that you are fully prepared for your revalidation. We are here to help you through the process to make it that much easier for you.
The new process replaces the current Prep requirements and nurses and midwives will have to revalidate every three years when they renew their place on the register. The revalidation builds on existing renewal requirements by introducing new elements which encourage nurses and midwives to reflect on the role of the Code in their practice and demonstrate that they are ‘living’ the standards set out within it.
So that we do not confuse you, we have collected what the new requirements are alongside your existing.
To summarise what the new requirements are for revalidation, we have listed them below:
- Producing 5 written reflections on your practice;
- Having a reflective discussion with a fellow nurse or midwife;
- Ensuring that another professional – normally your line manager – confirms that you have met all of the requirements for revalidation.
Many of the requirements that you will have already done as part of the PREP will remain under revalidation, so nothing in those respects will be unfamiliar to you.
In total with the current requirements, this is the list for revalidation you will be looking at as a whole:
- 450 practice hours or 900 if revalidating as both a nurse and midwife
- 35 hours CPD including 20 hours participatory learning
- Five pieces of practice related feedback
- Five written reflective accounts
- Reflective discussion
- Health and character declaration
- Professional indemnity arrangements
- Confirmation
You can use the NMC to help start the process already for your revalidation. Here are the steps they suggest you take:
- Make sure you have an NMC Online account. If you don’t yet have one refer to our step by step guidance on setting up your account.
- Find out about your:Revalidation application date: This is the date by which you must submit your revalidation application.
Renewal date: This is the date on which your registration expires. Your registration will be renewed from this date if you have successfully completed your revalidation application.
- Learn about what you will need to do. Talk with colleagues about revalidation and return to these web pages regularly.
Nurses and midwives should familiarise themselves with How to revalidate with the NMC now and start to develop their portfolio.
Revalidation will build on the requirements that nurses and midwives already need to meet. However, we want to provide a fair and reasonable amount of time for nurses and midwives to familiarise themselves with the revalidation requirements and prepare for their revalidation. We are proposing that the first nurses and midwives to revalidate will be those with a renewal date in April 2016. [1]
Please note that you must still pay your annual retention fee every year to maintain your registration with the NMC. Revalidation replaces the current renewal (Prep) process and you will have to complete the revalidation process every three years in order to renew your registration.
Should you need any further help with your revalidation process we are more than happy to assist you! Please call our dedicated nursing team, or our compliance team, who can guide you in the right direction.
[1] Nmc.org.uk, (2015). Revalidation. [online] Available at: http://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/revalidation/
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