In April this year, nearly 16,000 nurses and midwives will be the first to revalidate. This means that over the next three years, all 685,000 in the UK will have to go through the process. Revalidation has been introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a method to strengthen the registration renewal process and to also increase professionalism.
In order to successfully revalidate, nurses and midwives need to do the following:
- Meet the practice hours requirement (for example, a midwife needs 450 practice hours over a three year period)
- Undertake 35 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD), of which 20 of these hours must include participatory learning.
- Receive five pieces of practice-related feedback in the three year period since registration
- Write reflective accounts
- Have a ‘reflective discussion’ with another NMC registrant
- Provide a health and character declaration, including whether any criminal offences have arisen
- Declare that they have a professional indemnity arrangement in place.
It is the responsibility of the healthcare worker to revalidate, however it is important for their employer to provide a supportive and encouraging environment to do so. Employers can take the following steps:
- Encourage their candidates to register for NMC Online
- Communicate the changes and new requirements to their candidates
- Identify revalidation application and renewal dates for all candidates
- Assess what is needed to support revalidation in the organisation, including the level of support staff may require, along with plans to address this
- Incorporate communication about the requirements for the online revalidation process and timings into the company’s local communication systems.
Nurses and midwives need to revalidate every three years and it is due on the first day of the month in which their registration expires. Once the application has been completed, it can be submitted online via the NMC website.
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