Nurses who do not have an NMC-registered manager are more likely to have their revalidation portfolios called for verification said the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Katerina Kolyva, the director of continuing practice at the NMC, said that working in isolation or having someone other than a nurse as a confirmer, will be taken into account when portfolios are being called.
She made these comments at the NMC Council meeting on 8 October. She stated that having a portfolio called for verification did not mean that nurse was at risk but certain individuals may be more likely to have their portfolios called.
An NMC spokesperson confirmed: ‘Any nurse or midwife from our register could be chosen at random for verification. We will also take into account factors such as whether nurses and midwives have an NMC registered line manager or an annual appraisal as these are a good indication of the level of support available to them in completing their revalidation application.’
Verification ‘was not there to catch nurses out,’ said Ms Kolyva. ‘Confirmers do not have the power to strike people off the NMC register, that power remains with the NMC. We do not have the capacity to check all registrants so this is why we have the verification process which is where we will call the portfolios for some individuals.’
However, no clear plan was laid out for how portfolios will be selected for verification.
The Council agreed to move forward with the new model of revalidation which has been has been piloted since May 2015. Most of the council members agreed that there was no obvious reason as to why the model should not be approved as there was support from all four countries based on the success of the pilots.
This model of revalidation has been piloted in various locations for the past five months. Two GP practices were involved in the pilots that ran from May to June 2015. Ms Kolyva said that the nurses in the GP practices were able to complete all of the revalidation requirements including the 20 hours of participatory learning.
From April 2016 any nurses that are due for renewal will have to complete 450 practice hours and 35 hours of CPD. They will also need to show five pieces of practice-related feedback, five written reflective accounts, professional indemnity insurance and character reflection to complete their portfolios.