Doctors will now undergo annual assessment and five-yearly competency tests, following an announcement made by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today. Free online learning tools commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and developed by PRIMIS, will help GPs through the new revalidation process — which Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, has called “the biggest change in medical regulation for more than 150 years".
PRIMIS, The University of Nottingham’s primary care information services specialist, developed the tool on behalf of the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). It was launched this week at the Royal College of General Practitioner’s Revalidation event. It is specifically designed to support GPs through the new revalidation process, which will begin in December 2012. The clinical audit content has been tailored to the requirements of GP appraisal and revalidation.
The learning covers three key areas:
- clinical audit for General Practitioners
- clinical audit for GP practices and
- clinical audit and clinical commissioning groups.
Kate Godfrey, National Lead for Quality Improvement and Development at HQIP said “Having a keen involvement in clinical audit can offer GPs real benefits to their practice and ultimately, improve the quality of care for their patients. Developing this tool is a key part of delivering HQIP‘s strategy to promote clinical audit and quality improvement tools to general practitioners.
“Since the recent launch at the RCGP revalidations conference this week, over 50 GPs have logged on to take part and we are looking forward to feedback and response from the GP community.”
In reply to the Government's announce on revalidation, the NHS Confederation commented that revalidation was: "a very positive step forward and should herald greater patient safety and build confidence."
Prof Mike Pringle, who is the current Clinical Lead for Revalidation and RCGP President Elect and Strategic Director at PRIMIS said “To successfully revalidate every GP will need to take part in clinical audit. HQIP and PRIMIS offer comprehensive and easy-to-use resources advice and support which will help GPs meet their revalidation requirements.”
Head of Training at PRIMIS, Kerry Oliver, added “We’re delighted to be able to support GPs through this aspect of revalidation. As well as the learning, PRIMIS has a suite of tools available to GPs which can be used to gather evidence and data to support their audit process.”
GPs wishing to access the clinical audit online learning can do so via either the PRIMIS or HQIP websites. The learning and resources are free, but GPs will need to register for a free PRIMIS account that also enables them to gain access to other resources, including CHART data extraction and analysis tools that are designed to facilitate easy clinical audit.
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The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) is led by a consortium of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing and National Voices. Its aim is to promote quality improvement, and in particular to increase the impact that clinical audit has on healthcare quality in England and Wales. HQIP hosts the contract to manage and develop the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). Their purpose is to engage clinicians across England and Wales in systematic evaluation of their clinical practice against standards and to support and encourage improvement in the quality of treatment and care. The programme comprises more than 30 clinical audits that cover care provided to people with a wide range of medical, surgical and mental health conditions.