Medical Appraisal and Revalidation (A&R) is well embedded at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

  • Revalidation is the process that provides assurance that all our doctors are up-to-date and practising to the appropriate professional standards.
  • Appraisals for all doctors are conducted annually by trained competent appraisers. Participation in annual appraisals enables doctors to provide assurance to public, organisation and other colleagues that their practice is up-to-date, and that they continue to meet the principles and values as set out by the General Medical Council.

Appraisals enable doctors to be supported with their personal and professional development and enable them to work productively in line with priorities and requirements of the organisation which is in delivering safe, personal and effective care for our patients.

There are approximately 570-590 doctors with a prescribed connection to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust as their designated body at any given time over the year. This figure includes Consultants, Staff Grade and Associate Specialist Doctors and Clinical Fellows employed by the Trust. The number changes over the year as doctors start working at the Trust, or choose to leave the Trust.

Doctors in training have a prescribed connection with the North West Deanery and their annual appraisals are conducted by Health Education England. All of the doctors employed at the Trust participate in annual appraisals and thereby revalidation through robust local systems of clinical governance which enhance the quality of their work. Our organisation monitors the appraisal participation by doctors as well as the quality assurance framework that support this regularly.

We are pleased to update our patients and general public that our annual medical appraisal rates have been consistently above 95% for the last five years and above 96% for the third consecutive year. Our medical appraisal rates have been consistently higher than same sector and all sector organisations regionally and nationally. This high standard of performance on medical appraisals is made possible by the investments that our Trust has made for doctors to keep themselves updated and to train appraisers in the relevant training and education programmes, the supportive robust clinical governance and local systems, investments in digital technology, and relevant administrative and allied services support. 

The Trust lead for medical appraisal and revalidation is Dr Uma Krishnamoorthy, Associate Medical Director (A&R). If you have any queries regarding appraisal and revalidation the team can be contacted on revalidation@elht.nhs.uk 

We would be grateful for our patient's support with feedback on our doctors for their appraisals, as your feedback enables doctors to understand the impact they have on you, and your experience recieving care.

Your positive feedback helps reinforce their positive attributes, and your suggestions for improvement help doctors to improve on areas that have scope to do so based on your feedback.

We would welcome your feedback about our doctors through the completion of a simple Friends and Family Test during your hospital visits, both as outpatient and inpatient. You may also be contacted to complete a similar feedback exercise once in every five year revalidation cycle for which you may be contacted.

You can also feel free to leave your feedback about our doctors and staff, as well as your experience of our services overall, on the NHS website, here.

For any related queries please feel free to contact our Patient Experience Team:

By email: PatientExperience@elht.nhs.uk

Or write to us at:

Patient Experience
Park View Offices
Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital
Haslingden Road
Blackburn
BB2 3HH