In the double speak of Big Brother, Mike Pringle and Steve Field hold the banner of revalidation like Custer at the last stand.
David Edgcumbe has clarified what most hardworking conscientious GPs have known for years. When it comes to revalidation there is little support from College Members and fewer from outside the College.1 I raised this at Council 2 years ago, but College Council packed with GPs who do not feel the heat of wall-to-wall consultations have no realisation that the Emperor has no clothes.
Quality general practice has no room for performing like a circus clown every 5 years. Despite all the platitudes that it is about professional development, it is about measuring what we cannot measure and removing GPs who do not tick the boxes.
As a UK GP abroad, I see the barriers being erected to prevent UK GPs returning from New Zealand or Australia which will cement the loss of UK doctors. To require GPs, who in my experience are more competent than those in the UK, to jump these hurdles will ensure that they stay abroad.
Let us vote and see if the Emperor really does have clothes.
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2010.