GMC revalidation: what doctors need for the five-year cycle

How it works

NHS England describes it directly: "Medical revalidation is the process by which the General Medical Council (GMC) confirms the continuation of a doctor's licence to practise in the UK. All doctors who wish to retain their licence to practise need to participate in revalidation." It is "based on a local evaluation of doctors' practice through appraisal", with each doctor connected to an organisation and, through it, to a responsible officer. "The responsible officer makes a recommendation about the doctor's fitness to practise to the GMC. The recommendation will be based on the outcome of the doctor's annual appraisals over the course of five years, combined with information drawn from the organisational clinical governance systems" (NHS England).

The six types of supporting information

• Continuing professional development
• Quality improvement activity
• Significant events
• Feedback from patients, or those to whom you provide medical services
• Feedback from colleagues
• Compliments and complaints

This list is as set out by the Royal College of General Practitioners, which describes it as adapted from the GMC's supporting information guidance (rcgp.org.uk, published 31 January 2025, read 15 August 2026). We were unable to read gmc-uk.org on that date because the site refused our checks, so we are not quoting the GMC's own wording. Take the definitive list and its detail from the GMC's guidance on supporting information for appraisal and revalidation.

Annual, and once per cycle

The RCGP's guidance separates the two rhythms. Annually, a doctor is expected to demonstrate adequate and relevant CPD for every role with reflection on the significant learning and changes made, to show at least one quality improvement activity for the role, to take part in significant event processes and declare and reflect on any in which they were named or involved, and to reflect on informal feedback from patients and colleagues. Once in each cycle, they need compliant formal feedback from patients across their whole scope of work and compliant formal colleague feedback, both collected since the previous revalidation date, and quality improvement activity covering each role at least once.

Feedback is the long-lead item

NHS England states that colleague and patient feedback "is required once in each five-year revalidation cycle". The RCGP adds a practical warning worth repeating: take a hands-off approach to distribution, ideally with an administrator handing, texting or emailing surveys to consecutive patients, because selecting who responds is unlikely to give useful feedback, may jeopardise the recommendation, and is likely to require the survey to be repeated in a compliant way.

The steps in order

1. Set up a GMC Online account and confirm your responsible officer through it.
2. Get your revalidation date from the GMC and find out the appraisal format your responsible officer uses.
3. Gather supporting information against the Good Medical Practice framework, starting early so a recommendation is not deferred for lack of it.
4. Prepare for appraisal by reflecting on your supporting information, your scope and nature of work, last year's personal development plan, and your achievements, challenges and aspirations.
5. Participate in the appraisal meeting with a trained appraiser, then agree a new personal development plan and a written summary, and sign the appraisal off.
6. Repeat the gathering, preparation, participation and sign-off each year, then receive the GMC's revalidation decision after your responsible officer's recommendation.

Those steps follow NHS England's 'ten steps to revalidation' for doctors, condensed. NHS England also publishes advice specifically for locums and doctors in short-term placements, who most often have difficulty establishing or maintaining a connection.