More than 3,000 doctors will try out the process in 10 pilot areas, including primary care pilots in London Deanery, NHS Dorset and NHS West Midlands.

The remaining pilots include:

• NHS South Central
• Northampton General Hospital
• University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust
  
• Mersey Consortium
• Yorkshire and Humber Trust Collaboration
• Nottingham Healthcare NHS trust
• Derbyshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust

The DoH said the pilots will test the role of the responsible officer - the senior doctor with local responsibility for overseeing the revalidation process - test the proposals for a strengthened form of medical appraisal and look at the role of the medical royal colleges or faculties to support revalidation.

The pilots are set to start this month, and run to 31 March 2011.

The health secretary said the pilot studies will provide the NHS with the opportunity to test out how the new system should work in practice.

Professor Peter Rubin, chairman of the GMC, said: 'For the vast majority of doctors in this country appraisal will confirm what they already do: keep their skills and knowledge up to date and demonstrate high levels of professionalism every day of their working lives.

'The doctors who take part in these important pilots will play a vital role in helping to shape a key part of revalidation.'

England's chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the number of organisations that applied to take part in the pilots showed that the NHS was keen to move forward on revalidation.

Visit our Revalidation online resource