Revalidation & Training

Find Coyle Personnel's Revalidation Guidance Sheet

General guidance in revalidation for nurses.

Revalidation Guidance

Coyles is committed to revalidation within the sector and is proud to be a key support for our nurses. Whilst the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have confirmed that it is the responsibility of the registered nurse to complete their revalidation, Coyles believes that we should be supporting you as much as possible. We have updated our appraisal documentation to reflect the revalidation process and created a range of resources, including a Coyles Revalidation Pack of Templates, to support you through revalidation.

You will be required to complete your revalidation when you are due to renew your registration with the NMC. This step-by-step guide to Revalidation has been produced to highlight important information as provided by the NMC.

Revalidation and the Code

The revalidation model aligns with the four themes of the Code:

• Prioritise people by actively seeking and reflecting on any direct feedback received from patients, service users and others to ensure that you are able to fulfil their needs.
• Practise effectively by reflecting on your professional development with your colleagues, identifying areas for improvement in your practice and undertaking professional development activities.
• Preserve safety by practising within your competency for the minimum number of practice hours, reflecting on feedback, and addressing any gaps in your practice through continuing professional development (CPD).
• Promote professionalism and trust by providing feedback and helping other NMC colleagues reflect on their professional development, and being accountable to others for your professional development and revalidation.

Recording your evidence and documents for revalidation

The RCNi, provided by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), offers agency nurses access to online training and training articles, clinical articles, questionnaires and quizzes to test their knowledge. It also has an online portfolio where nurses can upload documents, evidence hours worked and CPD, ready to print and submit for revalidation. Access to the RCNi Portfolio AND interactive learning resources are available outside of an RCNi journal subscription.

For more information on the RCNi Guides to Revalidation, RCNi Portfolio Pack, and RCNi subscription click here.

If you choose not to subscribe to the RCNi account, we strongly recommend that you keep a portfolio with printed copies of documents and written evidence ready to present at annual appraisals, confirmation, and revalidation with the NMC.

If you’re not planning on using the RCNi, we have attached all the Forms and Templates you will need to support you in recording your evidence. To access these documents please click here:

For the NMC How to Revalidate and latest resources click here.

Requirements for NMC revalidation

1. Practice hours:

You must be able to evidence that you have worked 450 practice hours over the three years prior to the renewal of your registration.

The NMC have confirmed that if you have practised for less than the required number of hours in the three years prior to the date of your application for renewal of your registration, then you must successfully complete an appropriate return to practice programme approved by the NMC before the date of your application for renewal of registration.

More information on the return to practice programme can be found here:http://www.nmc.org.uk/Registration/Returning-to-the-register/

If you are selected to provide further information to verify your declaration within your application, you will be asked to provide the following:

• dates of practice;
• the number of hours you undertook;
• name, address, and postcode of the organisations;
• scope of practice;
• work setting;
• a description of the work you undertook; and
• evidence of those practice hours, such as timesheets, job specifications, and role profiles.

So please ensure that you record these in preparation.

2. Continuing professional development (CPD)

 You must be able to evidence 35 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which is relevant to your practice as a nurse and over the three years prior to the renewal of your registration. 20 hours must be through participatory learning.

You must maintain accurate records of the CPD you have undertaken. These records must contain:

• the CPD method;
• a description of the topic and how it related to your practice;
• the dates on which the activity was undertaken;
• the number of hours (including the number of participatory hours);
• the identification of the part of the Code most relevant to the activity; and
• evidence that you undertook the CPD activity.

The NMC do not list a particular type of CPD and it is your responsibility to judge what learning activity would be best suited to your individual practice.

3. Practice Related Feedback

You must present at least five pieces of practice-related feedback. The feedback can be informal/formal, written or verbal and from a number of sources including patients, service users, students, and colleagues.

If you do obtain practice-related feedback from a patient, please remember to get their consent first and anonymise the content.

You can collect feedback based on your individual performance or on your team, unit, ward or organisation’s performance. However, you will need to be clear on how this has specifically impacted your individual performance.

Format of feedback collected:

Feedback can be received verbally or written, formal or informal and it does not need to be from fellow nurses or midwives. It could be from colleagues in management, on reception, office administration, or fellow teachers and academics.

Coyle timesheets have been designed specifically to enable you to collect feedback based on your individual performance.

4. Reflections and Discussions

You must record a minimum of five written reflections and discussions relating to the Code, your CPD and practice-related feedback.

You must have a professional development discussion with another NMC registered nurse and cover your reflections relating to the above. You must use either the NMC Reflective accounts form template (available on our website).

The NMC registered nurse is required to record their NMC Pin, e-mail, professional address, and postcode, as well as the date you had the discussion.

While this discussion can form part of your wider confirmation discussion, it is not the same as obtaining confirmation. If you work with Coyles on a full-time or regular basis, you will be given access to Coyles Reflective Discussion Partner. To book your Reflection Discussion Appointment email us at; info.revalidation@coyles.co.uk

5. Health and Character Declaration

You must provide a Health and Character Declaration and declare if you have been convicted of any criminal offence or issued with a formal caution. When making these declarations, please refer to the following NMC links:

NMC - studying to be a nurse or midwife

NMC - informing us of cautions and convictions

6. Professional Indemnity Arrangement

You must declare that you have, or will have when practising, appropriate cover under an indemnity arrangement.

By law, you must have in place an appropriate indemnity arrangement in order to practise and provide care. While the arrangement does not need to be individually held by you, it is your responsibility to ensure that appropriate cover is in force.

Please refer to the following NMC link when making this declaration:

NMC - PII final guidance pdf

Please note: If you do not have the appropriate indemnity cover, you will be removed from the NMC register and will be unable to practice as a nurse.

7. Confirmation from a third party – Coyles

Your third party confirmer will be someone who is considered to be your line manager and doesn’t need to be NMC registered. However, to provide the best support possible to our Nurses third-party confirmers at Coyles will be NMC registered.

Your confirmer will verify the declarations within your application in a face-to-face meeting and you will have to demonstrate that you have met all of the revalidation requirements before they can sign and date the confirmation form.

The NMC recommends that you obtain your confirmation during the final 12 months of the three-year registration period to ensure that it is recent. If your confirmation is produced earlier, you may be asked to explain why.

It’s likely that your confirmer will also conduct your annual appraisals, that way you can keep your confirmer up-to-date with all of your revalidation preparation.

If you work with Coyles on a full-time or regular basis, you will be given access to a Coyles Confirmer for your third-party confirmation.

To book your Confirmation Appointment email us at; info.revalidation@coyles.co.uk.

8.  How to apply for revalidation

The NMC will notify you at least 60 days before your application for revalidation is due.

You will then have 60 days to log onto NMC Online and complete the revalidation application form. Please ensure that at this point, you have all of your revalidation evidence collated and ready to submit.

9. What happens if I don’t complete my revalidation?

If you don’t submit your revalidation application in time your registration will lapse which means that it will be illegal for you to practice as a nurse.

To return to the register you will have to apply for readmission which could take up to six weeks. If you submit your revalidation application in time but it is refused because you have failed to meet your revalidation requirements, you can appeal this decision within 28 days of the date on your decision letter.

10. Are there any arrangements for exceptional circumstances if I cannot meet revalidation requirements?

The NMC have special arrangements in place for nurses and midwives who cannot meet the revalidation requirements as a result of exceptional circumstances. By exceptional circumstances they mean that you have not been in practice for sufficient time between October 2015 when the revalidation guidance was published and your revalidation application date(for example, if you have been on maternity leave or sick leave) to meet the additional requirements, or you cannot meet one or more of the requirements at any time because a protected characteristic under the Equality Act may apply.
If you are able to establish that exceptional circumstances apply in your case, you will still need to meet the Prep requirements for renewal. Please see NMC guidance sheet on exceptional circumstances for further information at www.nmc.org.uk/standards/revalidation/revalidation-guidance-and-resources.

11. Can I Request an extension to submit my revalidation application?

The NMC have said they will not usually consider any requests for extensions to submit a revalidation application. You should have met the requirements during the three years prior to the renewal of your registration. However, if you believe that you have a good reason why you cannot submit your revalidation application by the specified date, you must contact the NMC as far in advance of your revalidation application date as possible to discuss your situation. 

The NMC state in their guidance that they are only able to grant an extension prior to the date your registration is due to lapse. Any extensions will only be granted for a period of up to six weeks. In granting an extension, the NMC will take into account:

• whether you have contacted the NMC in advance of the date your revalidation application is due;
• the reason why you cannot submit your revalidation application by the specified date;
• whether you are capable of completing the outstanding revalidation requirements and submitting your application within the additional period of time;
• whether there are any concerns about your fitness to practise, and
• whether the annual fee has been or will be paid by the required date.

Any extension the NMC agree in relation to your revalidation application would not include an extension to the date on which your annual fee is due to be paid.

There is a step-by-step guide to registering online:

http://www.nmc.org.uk/Registration/NMC-Online/

12. Paying your renewal fee

As part of your revalidation application, you will need to pay your renewal fee. Here is a guidance document on how to pay your renewal fee:

http://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/staying-on-the-register/paying-your-fee/

13.  Important changes to lapsed NMC registration

New Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) rules come into force last year – from November 2015 anyone who allows their registration to lapse will be taken off the register immediately.

14.  Know your registration date

Please ensure that you know your re-register date and are planning ahead. It is illegal for you to continue working if you are not on the NMC register and it could result in getting suspended from work. Also note that readmission to the register can take a minimum of between two to six weeks, meaning that you will not be paid for this period.

15.  NMC online account

The easiest way to maintain registration is through an NMC Online account. On NMC Online, you can:

• view registration status
• find out your renewal date
• update your contact and address details
• view and print a statement of entry
• submit your notification of practice (NoP) online
• pay your annual retention or renewal fees
• set up a direct debit for your annual fee payment
• provide equality and diversity information, and
• provide details about where you work

View the ‘How to set up your NMC Online account’ document here if you don’t already have an account: NMC - Online guidance (march 2015)

If you do have an NMC account, log-in today to check your registration status and renewal date.

Revalidation Training Workshops

Coyles is running a series of Revalidation Training Workshops at its Victoria Office on; 3rd May, 9th June, 28th July, September 1st, 27th October, and 1st December 2016, which counts towards your CPD!

Please note that if your revalidation is not due until January 2017 onwards, you can only book yourself for the October and December workshops in order to give nurses with an earlier revalidation opportunity to attend before their revalidation date.

To book your place please email revalidation@coyles.co.uk 

Help & Support

Please email revalidation@coyles.co.uk if you require any assistance with Revalidation