The British Medical Association (BMA) has said that it will continue to support revalidation despite there being no guarantees that NHS England will continue to fund remediation.

The revalidation process is intended to assure patients, health care professionals and organisations that the medical workforce is formally regulated and that the quality of doctors’ practice is of a high standard.

Last September the BMA said that it would continue to support the process on the condition that remediation was funded, but have now confirmed that they will continue to support the scheme despite suggestions that there is no guarantee of funding for remediation after April next year.

NHS England published a document on revalidation at the end of June saying that, until a permanent decision on funding is made, the cost of remediation should be split between the individual doctor and the local area team, as long as the latter’s contribution is no more than £10,000.

Naturally, the BMA is very disappointed at this split funding decision, as the Association only agreed to support implementation of the revalidation process knowing that it had the commitment of the NHS Commissioning Board, as NHS England was then called.

However, NHS England has said that it is not certain that even the split funding will continue after next April but that there will be further discussion on the matter between now and then.

This has not placated the BMA, who insist that the issue be resolved as a matter of urgency so that doctors can get back to caring for patients, with the support they need in place.