Development of specialty specific framework for revalidation

The Academy’s Revalidation Development Group has tasked all Colleges with defining specialty standards according to the new template for appraisal and assessment. 

The Royal College of Pathologists have been working with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to develop specialist standards and supporting information for revalidation. In January 2009 the College consulted on a draft of the GMC document and contributed to the latest revision.


The RCPath pathology framework is available


Revalidation pathfinder pilots

Revalidation pathfinder pilots are being run in England.  Details are available on line from the Revalidation Support Team.

The College has prepared draft guidance to pathologists participating in revalidation pilots.

Guidance on the pathology framework for pathfinder revalidation pilots


Multi-source feedback
The College has developed a pathology-focused multi-source feedback tool. This has been through initial development and testing stages and is now ready for large-scale piloting. We have successfully applied to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges for financial support from revalidation development funding to complete this work.

Certification of high-quality clinical audit
The College has developed an online peer-evaluated clinical audit certification scheme to validate that an audit has completed the audit cycle and has achieved a demonstrable outcome, e.g. improvement in patient care, pathology services or healthcare professionals. This scheme can ultimately be used to contribute toward revalidation. In this area, the College is leading others in its attention to the development of standards for clinical audit.

More details about audit certification 

Continuing professional development (CPD)
The College provides a quality-assured framework for recording CPD. The scheme was reviewed in the light of future medical revalidation and a new guide to the CPD produced in March 2010.

More details about CPD 

Interpretative EQA
The College already has a well developed interpretive EQA scheme in histopathology. The College and the Joint Working Group on Quality Assurance will explore the possibility of developing existing schemes in other pathology specialties in a similar way.

More details about EQA 


Consulting Fellows
The College conducted two revalidation focus groups in May 2008.  The results of the focus groups will help inform the development of revalidation. A summary report is available below.

Summary Report on Revalidation Focus Groups