Appraisal standards in occupational medicine

Following a series of serious misdemeanours by British doctors, the General Medical Council (GMC) has introduced a system of re-licensing called 'revalidation'. Annual medical appraisal forms an important cornerstone of the proposed system, but specific guidance is lacking on the content of appraisal for occupational physicians, and the kinds of evidence that they might bring to critical reviews of performance. Two educational bodies, the Revalidation Committee of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and the Education Panel of the Society of Occupational Medicine, have jointly developed a set of recommendations on appraisal to further the process. In this paper we summarize the background and present the guidelines promulgated by the Faculty and the Society.