Revalidation requirements: Confirmation

As part of your revalidation there is a requirement for you to to be confirmed by an appropriate third person for the purpose of verifying the declarations you have made in your revalidation application.

This also adds credibility to the revalidation process. Confirmation must be recorded on the NMC template.  Your confirmer will need to provide their name, NMC PIN or other professional identification number (where relevant), email, professional address and postcode.

 An appropriate confirmer could be:

• a line manager who is also an NMC registered nurse or midwife
• a line manager who is not an NMC registered nurse or midwife
• another NMC registered nurse or midwife
• a regulated health care professional
• an overseas regulated health care professional.

The NMC strongly recommends that wherever possible you obtain confirmation from your line manager or an NMC registrant who has effective registration.  It is helpful if they have worked with you or have a similar scope of practice, but this is not essential.

If it is not possible to gain confirmation from a line manager or NMC registrant, you can seek confirmation from another health care professional who is regulated in the UK and with whom you work. For example, you could ask a doctor, dentist or pharmacist. You will need to record their professional PIN or registration number and the name of their professional regulator.

If you do not have a line manager, or access to an NMC registrant or another health care professional, discuss this with the NMC. It is also a good idea to start to develop links with other NMC registrants working in a similar field, this might be through professional forums.

Confirmation and the reflective discussion

If your line manager is an NMC registrant, the NMC recommend that you have the reflective discussion at the same time as your confirmation discussion. This could form part of your annual appraisal. If your line manager is not an NMC registrant, you will need to have the reflective discussion with another NMC registrant before obtaining confirmation. Ultimately the responsibility for choosing the most appropriate confirmer lies with you, as a professional nurse or midwife.

The NMC strongly recommends that wherever possible you obtain confirmation from your line manager or an NMC registrant who has effective registration. It is helpful if they have worked with you or have a similar scope of practice, but this is not essential. If you decide that you would like a different confirmer to your line manager, it is your responsibility to discuss this with both parties first and in good time.

Obtaining confirmation

You must obtain confirmation through a face-to-face discussion or video conference. You will be demonstrating to the confirmer that you have complied with the revalidation requirements. This should be during the final 12 months of the three-year registration period to ensure that it is recent. You might find it helpful to have a discussion with your confirmer every year as part of your annual appraisal, so that you can keep them updated on your revalidation.

Both you and your confirmer will need to exercise judgement where there is any conflict of interest or perception of bias to ensure that the confirmation process retains credibility and remains objective.

You may choose to store your completed reflective discussion and confirmation forms in either paper or electronic format. You should remember to respect the fact that these forms contain personal data about your reflective discussion partner and confirmer.

If you are selected to provide further information to verify your application, the NMC will ask you to provide the signed confirmation form and may also check with your confirmer that they provided your confirmation.

Appraisal

If you work outside of the NHS see our appraisal guidance. This information may also be useful for those who have not had an appraisal before.

Being a confirmer

Confirmation is based on the evidence that you have seen. If you provide confirmation honestly, you will not be held responsible for future or past actions if you were unaware of them when giving the confirmation.

What you are being asked to do as a confirmer:

• have a face-to-face discussion with the registrant about their portfolio/evidence and how they have met the requirements
• you may wish to review the registrant’s portfolio/evidence prior to the discussion
• question the registrant where you are not sure if they have met a requirement
• use your professional judgement in deciding whether you think that the registrant has met the revalidation requirements.

What you are not being asked to do:

• decide whether a registrant will remain on the register.
• make a judgement on whether the registrant is fit to practice – revalidation is not a new way to raise fitness to practice concerns. If you have a concern about the registrant’s fitness to practice, you need to raise this in the appropriate way.

See guidance from the NMC on the role of the confirmer.