By Margot Russell, director of NMAHP Practice Development Centre

If you’re a registered nurse or midwife, revalidation should already be on your mind.

Revalidation is a new requirement from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), designed to promote good practice among nurses and midwives.

Every three years, nurses and midwives will have to revalidate by putting together the evidence to show that they meet the requirements for revalidation.

There will be a steady flow of staff revalidating each month from April this year – depending on when their NMC registration falls due. When it’s time to revalidate, staff will receive a letter or an email from the NMC, giving plenty of notice so they can gather their evidence together in good time.

With our support, the first of our nurses and midwives who are undertaking the new process – around 80 of them in all – are now working towards a fast-approaching deadline of 1 April.

So, what is revalidation?

It’s about promoting good practice – not an assessment of fitness to practise. All registered nurses and midwives need to demonstrate they are living by the NMC Code’s standards of practice and behaviour. Revalidation is designed to ensure that nurses and midwives meet a range of requirements to show they’re keeping up to date and practising safely and effectively.

There are several components within the new revalidation process. These include evidence of 35 hours of continuing professional development over three years, five pieces of practice feedback and five written “reflective accounts” to have a reflective discussion with another registered nurse or midwife, and a confirmation discussion to ensure you have met the requirements for revalidation.

You can find the full details of the requirements and much more useful information on FirstPort – http://firstport2/staff-support/revalidation-nurses-midwives/default.aspx or on the dedicated NMC website – http://revalidation.nmc.org.uk

My top tip for a smooth revalidation is to be prepared.

You need to submit your revalidation application by the 1st of the month you’re due to revalidate on. I’m advising our April pioneers to be ready well before that and to set a target of having their portfolio together by the start of March. 

Revalidation takes place on a three-yearly basis, but it’s best to view it as an ongoing commitment and to continually collect the evidence for your portfolio. I suggest you prepare early, identify what support you require and what information you need to gather, and pull it together over the three-year period.

That way our busy nurses and midwives won’t find themselves in a last-minute rush to revalidate.