Jackie Smith, the chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), told primary care nurses that revalidation is 'doable' and 'will make a difference'.
Speaking at the Primary Care Nursing Expo on 3 February, Ms Smith told the nurses in attendance that the NMC was on hand to alleviate any concerns around revalidation and that nurses and midwives should contact them instead of 'listening to rumours from other people.'
She acknowledged some of the concerns that have been specifically expressed by primary care nurses such as lone working, not having a nurse-registered confirmer and that some nurses would rather retire than revalidate.
'Please look at the website which answers some of the tricker questions such as where do I get my feedback from, how do I write my reflective account, how do I have the reflective discussion, who is confirming me does it have to be another nurse or midwife, what if I'm a single nurse or midwife, how do I network? All of this is answered on the NMC website,' said Ms Smith.
She stated that revalidation would be subject to evaluation after all of the nurses and midwives registered with the NMC had gone through the revalidation process, which would be in three years time. 'We need to see what were the benefits of asking you to do this and how can we demonstrate that, and its important you need to know that and public need to know and we need to know why it's been done,' she said.
A further analysis of Independent Nurse research on primary care nurses and revalidation will be in the next issue out on 15 February.