What to do if you've accepted a staff member's credential and it is then revoked

You have accepted a credential from a new starter and it is subsequently revoked, for example when a professional body flags that an individual is no longer fit to practice.

You will not receive a notification.

NHS Digital Staff Passport verifies a credential when it is shared by the new starter. It does not keep a 'live' connection to that credential, or the authoritative source that issued the credential.

It is an accepted risk of the service, as these other safeguards are in place to mitigate:

• staff have a professional obligation to inform employers of any changes to their circumstances - for resident doctors, it's outlined in the Good Medical Practice guidance published by the General Medical Council (GMC)
• for the GMC, there's an interface with Electronic Staff Record (ESR) that will flag this overnight, so the window of risk is between accepting the credential and the employee record being set up in ESR

You can reduce the risk by checking the relevant professional registration body website for the status of all employees the day before they start work.