Completing the revalidation annual return

Please read all guidance before starting your annual return as it will take time to gather
the evidence you need, including:

 provision of medical services statements (PMSS) from any organisations at which

you’ve carried out medical practice
 a form from your appraiser to provide details of your appraisal
 a certificate of good standing if you have been registered with an overseas regulator in
the last 12 months.

 You must fill in all fields marked with an asterisk* or you will not be able to submit
your online annual return.

If you are unable to give us this information, you must explain why.

We will:

 assess your information to ensure you are meeting the requirements for you
revalidation as set out in our guidance

 take steps to verify the information you give us.

How to move around the online return and save your

progress
 The progress bar on the top left lists the annual return sections and indicates
whether you have completed it with a green tick or a red box.

 You can move between sections using the ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons or by
clicking on the section titles in the progress bar on the top left.

 Your annual return will save automatically when you move to the next screen, log
off GMC Online or shut down your computer.

 You don’t need to complete your return in a single session: you can edit your
annual return as many times as you want through the ‘My Revalidation’ screen of
your GMC Online account, until you submit.
  You cannot submit your return until all sections in the progress bar have a green
tick, but once you’ve submitted, it becomes read-only and you will not be able to
make any further changes.

Employment/practice history
Include details of all employment/practice for the entire 12 month period in question
including:

 all medical and non-medical roles

 all paid and voluntary roles
 roles in any setting (health service, independent sector, etc.)
 any breaks in practice.

If your earliest start date is not at least 12 months ago, you will receive an error message.

Provision of Medical Services Statements (PMSS)

 Download a blank PMSS form

When submitting your annual return you should upload a completed provision of medical
services statement (PMSS) from each body/organisation you provided medical services to
during the past 12 months:

 For current roles, this should be dated no more than three months from the date
you submit your annual return.

 For previous roles, this should be dated no more than 12 months from the date
you submit your annual return.

Area of work
Select the categories from the dropdown list which best describe your area of work.

Area of work Activities

Clinical work  assessing

 diagnosing

 prescribing prescription only

medicines

 treating

Providing medical advice  telemedicine

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  medico-legal

 expert witness/opinion

 committee/panel work

Educational roles  teaching

 lecturing

 researching

Medical and health management’  hospitals

 clinics

 general practice

 the community

 the institutional context (for

example, colleges/universities).

Signing medical certificates  death certificates.

If a role involved practice in a recognised medical specialty, please indicate this in the
‘Specialty’ box. If not, please enter ‘n/a’ in this box.

Definition of ‘working in a medical capacity’ and ‘providing medical services’

For each role, you must indicate whether or not you were ‘working in a medical capacity’
and/or ‘providing medical services’, that is:

 assessing, diagnosing, treating, reporting or giving advice (for example, as a

member of a panel or committee, as an expert witness or in the context of
medical defence union work); and/or

 public health medicine, teaching, research, medical or health management in

hospitals, clinics, general practice and community and institutional contexts (for
example in a university, Royal College or company) whether paid or voluntary;
and/or

 signing any medical certificates, but excluding signing passport photographs;

and/or

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  prescribing medicines, the sale or supply of which is restricted by law to
prescription by medical practitioners; and

 using the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies initially obtained for the
MB ChB degree (or equivalent) and built upon in postgraduate and continuing
education.

The above definitions should be used, regardless of whether you provided services
through:

 direct employment

 contract/self-employed work

 voluntary work.

Please note: the list above indicates activities which we define as ‘medical’ for the
purposes of the revalidation annual return. It is not a list of activities for which you are
required to hold a licence to practise. You can read more about the privileges that are by
law, restricted to licensed doctors in the United Kingdom.

Certificates of Good Standing (CGS)/Certificates of Past

Good Standing (CPGS)
You must send us a completed Certificate of Good Standing (CGS) from each medical
regulatory authority you list in your annual return (not including the GMC). If you are no
longer registered with an authority, this may be a Certificate of Past Good Standing
(CPGS).

This information allows us to check there are no unaddressed concerns among overseas
medical regulators about your fitness to practise.

Details of overseas medical regulatory authorities can be found in our certificate of good
standing contact database. CGS/CPGS must be signed and dated no more than three
months from the date you submit your annual return.

It is best if you upload your certificates along with your other evidence, but you can
arrange for the medical authority to send certificates directly to us instead. Please use the
dropdown menu to tell us if you make such an arrangement. If we do not receive the
certificate by the time we review your annual return, we may contact you and/or the
regulatory authority.

Your annual appraisal – meeting our requirements

 Download a blank appraiser report form.

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You will be asked to confirm your appraisal meets all of our requirements before you can
submit your annual return.

Regardless of the nature of your practice or where it takes place, your appraisal must:

 comply with the Good medical practice framework for appraisal and revalidation

 cover and reflect upon your whole practice and performance as outlined
in Guidance on supporting information for appraisal and revalidation

 be supported by appropriate systems and processes, and adequate resources.

Supporting information You will also be asked which of the six types of supporting
information you discussed during your appraisal. It is not
always necessary to collate and reflect on each type of
information every year. Your appraiser should check your
supporting information is complete and meets our
requirements. For information on how often we expect you to
collect the information types, please see our Guidance on
supporting information for appraisal and revalidation.
Appraiser report form You must upload a completed appraiser report form. You
should arrange for this form to be completed by your appraiser
at the end of your appraisal or as soon afterwards as possible.
It is not acceptable for you to complete any part of the form.

The appraiser report form must confirm that both your

appraiser and appraisal met all our criteria.

More than one If you have had more than one whole practice appraisal during
appraisal the period covered by your annual return, you must upload a
completed appraiser report form for each appraisal.

Incomplete or If you have not had an annual appraisal, or your appraisal

forthcoming appraisal does not meet our criteria, you must explain why.

You can use the same section to let us know about a

forthcoming appraisal. Please provide:

 your appraiser’s full name

 your appraiser’s telephone and email contact details

 your relationship to your appraiser (eg colleague,

manager, independent provider, etc.)

 your appraisal date

 where your appraisal will take place.

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Your appraiser – meeting our requirements
You may not be appraised by someone with whom you have a conflict of interest, or
where there may be an appearance of bias, for example, a spouse, family member or
someone with whom you have a close, personal, business or financial interest.

You must be appraised for revalidation by someone who meets all the following criteria.

They must:

 hold registration and a licence to practise with the GMC

 have a prescribed connection to a designated body (or have a suitable person

approved by the GMC)

 have been trained in the knowledge and skills to carry out appraisals for
revalidation

 carry out appraisals for a designated body or approved suitable person

 have carried out at least five appraisals in the 12 months preceding an appraisal of
a doctor who doesn’t have a connection

 confirm to the GMC that they are discussing and reflecting on their appraisal work
as part of their scope of practice in their own appraisal

 understand the context, scope and nature of work you undertake

 understand the professional obligations placed on doctors by the GMC’s

guidance Good medical practice

 not have a conflict of interest with you, and avoid any appearance of bias in the
appraisal

 see and verify the fitness for purpose of the supporting information you take to
your appraisal

 refer doctors to the GMC if they have concerns about their fitness to practise

 be able to provide evidence, when we ask, that they meet all of the above criteria

 not undertake appraisals for doctors without a connection if they (the appraiser)
are in a licence withdrawal process.

You should check the registration status of your appraiser using the List of Registered
Medical Practitioners on our website.

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Upload your evidence
 save your completed evidence as files on your computer
 click on ‘Browse’ to search your computer for the evidence you need to send us
 briefly describe them (for example, CGS Pakistan, appraiser report form) in the
Description field on the upload screen
 click ‘Upload’ to attach the evidence to your annual return.

Do not:

 upload your supporting information for appraisal

 send us paper versions of original documents.

If we need additional information, such as original copies, we will contact you separately.

Do not forget to upload a complete and accurate English translation of any evidence that
isn’t in English.

Declaration of fitness to practise

Your fitness to practise declaration should relate to the period since you last made a
declaration to us. Some examples of where you may have previously made a fitness to
practise declaration are:

 as part of a registration or restoration application

 as part of the ongoing requirement to disclose criminal convictions and cautions,

in accordance with paragraph 75 of Good medical practice

 within a previous revalidation annual return form.

If you have previously reported any fitness to practise issues to us, you should select ‘No’
when answering the relevant question(s) in this section.