How to Ask for NMC Revalidation Feedback (With Templates)

The five-piece feedback rule sounds simple until you sit down to write your revalidation submission and realise you have nothing recorded. Most nurses receive far more than five pieces of usable feedback every cycle. The problem is capture, not collection.

This chapter is about the practical mechanics: how to ask, what to ask for, and the templates that work in the four most common situations.

The shift that fixes the problem

Two habits, both small.

Ask in the moment. When a patient, family member or colleague says something useful in passing, follow up with a sentence: “Would you mind if I noted that down for my professional record?” Most people say yes. The conversation continues, and you have a record.

Write it down the same day. Open a Word document, dictate into a phone notes app, send yourself an email. The format doesn’t matter; the speed does. The phrase the patient used, the date, who they were (in terms of relationship to your care, not name), and one sentence on what part of your practice it touched.

These two habits turn the five-piece requirement from a panic into background noise. A nurse who does this once a fortnight has roughly 70 usable pieces of feedback across the three-year cycle, far more than the five needed.

Asking patients for feedback

The right moment is after the interaction has settled, not during it. A patient who is mid-procedure isn’t in a position to give thoughtful feedback. A patient who’s about to be discharged, or whose family member has just had something explained well, is.

Wording that works:

“Before you go, I’d value any feedback on the care I gave you today: anything that was helpful, or anything I could have done better. It supports the reflective practice we have to do as nurses.”

The “we have to do” framing is honest and reassures the patient that you’re not fishing for compliments. Most patients respond with one specific thing they appreciated.

Wording that doesn’t work:

“Has everything been okay today?”

That gets “Yes, fine, thank you.” It’s a yes/no question and you can’t use yes/no as feedback evidence.

For patients who can’t give verbal feedback (a child, a confused elderly patient, someone with capacity issues), ask the family member or carer who’s been present. Same wording adapted.

Asking colleagues for feedback

Easier than patients in some ways, harder in others. Easier because colleagues understand revalidation. Harder because asking can feel transactional.

The peer ask:

“I’m gathering feedback for my revalidation. Would you be willing to send me a couple of lines on what you’ve seen me do well, and one thing I could work on? It can be informal, just a message.”

This works because it’s specific (two things), low-effort (a message, not a form), and reciprocal. Most colleagues are happy to do it because they’ll be asking you the same thing in their revalidation cycle.

The mentor or senior ask:

“I’d value your perspective on my development as part of my revalidation. Could we book ten minutes to talk through what you’ve observed in my practice this year?”

Senior colleagues often have more substantive feedback to give but expect a structured conversation rather than a quick message. Book the time, take notes, send them a written summary of what they said and ask them to confirm it’s accurate. That accuracy-check makes it audit-grade.

Asking students for feedback

Mentoring student nurses is participatory CPD, and the students themselves are a valid feedback source. The relationship is reciprocal: you’re assessing them, they’re assessing you.

Wording that works at the end of a placement:

“Before your placement ends, I’d appreciate honest feedback on the supervision I provided: what worked, what didn’t, and what I could change for future students. It feeds into my revalidation reflection.”

Student feedback tends to be specific and direct because the relationship has lower power asymmetry than patient feedback. A student saying “you gave me too little time to ask questions during medication rounds” is actionable.

Asking managers for feedback

Most managers give feedback as part of appraisal. Extract from that.

Wording when no formal appraisal happened recently:

“Could we set up a 15-minute chat for me to capture your perspective on my work? It’ll feed into my revalidation reflective accounts.”

Managers usually have a clearer view of the broader patterns in your work than peers: themes, strengths, areas where they’ve seen you grow. Capture the themes, not just specific incidents.

Anonymous feedback

Friends and Family Test responses, patient satisfaction surveys, formal compliments logged centrally are all valid even when anonymous. The NMC requires that the feedback was practice-related, not that the source is named.

To extract anonymous feedback for your record:

• Ask your trust’s patient experience team for compliments logged that mention you.
• Look at your ward’s Friends and Family Test responses for the period.
• Review any 360-degree feedback your trust runs.

Take screenshots, copy to your folder with a date, write a one-line summary of what the feedback said.

What to record for each piece

A simple template that satisfies the audit:

Date: [yyyy-mm-dd]
Source: [Patient / Patient's family / Colleague (role) / Manager / Student / Anonymous via survey]
What was said: [direct quote or close paraphrase]
What I did with it: [one-sentence note on the practice impact]

Five of these across three years and you’re done. Most nurses can write one in two minutes.

The next chapter moves to the largest piece of paperwork in the revalidation submission: the five written reflective accounts.