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

How medical revalidation works for doctors

NHS England: "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 want to keep their licence must take part.

It is "based on a local evaluation of doctors' practice through appraisal". Each doctor connects to an organisation and, through it, a responsible officer, who recommends to the GMC on fitness to practise.

It rests 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, adapted from the GMC's supporting information guidance (rcgp.org.uk, published 31 January 2025, read 15 August 2026).

gmc-uk.org refused our checks that day, so we do not quote the GMC's own wording. Take the definitive list from the GMC's guidance on supporting information for appraisal and revalidation.

The GMC annual appraisal, and what is once per cycle

The RCGP's guidance separates two rhythms. Each year, a doctor is expected to:

• show adequate, relevant CPD for every role, reflecting on significant learning and changes made;
• show at least one quality improvement activity for the role;
• take part in significant event processes, declaring and reflecting on any they were named in or involved with;
• reflect on informal feedback from patients and colleagues.

Once each cycle, since the previous revalidation date, they need compliant formal patient feedback across the whole scope of work and compliant formal colleague feedback. Quality improvement activity must cover each role at least once.

Feedback is the long-lead item

NHS England says colleague and patient feedback "is required once in each five-year revalidation cycle".

The RCGP adds a practical warning: keep distribution hands-off, ideally an administrator handing, texting or emailing surveys to consecutive patients. Choosing respondents is unlikely to give useful feedback, may jeopardise the recommendation, and will likely mean repeating the survey compliantly.

The GMC revalidation process, step by step

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.