Supporting SOAR Users
It has been a very busy and productive year for SOAR in 2014/2015.
Following the successful appointments of Kris Wright and Alistair Bryan to the roles of Information Technician, we were able to expand our capacity in the services provided. One of the key things we were able to do was to re-introduce the regular SOAR training sessions via WebEx (online conference tool).
This allowed us to demo the appraisal process on SOAR, giving the participants an indication of what is expected of the Appraiser and Appraisee. It also gave the participants an opportunity to ask us questions as we went through the live demos.
We organised 18 WebEx sessions from August to December 2014, with a total of 101 bookings (averaging 5.5 participants per session), and 76 attendance (75%). We organised further sessions from January to April 2015 but, rather disappointingly, there were only 8 bookings and 2 attendance out of the 16 sessions scheduled.
Following the recent SOAR Redesign project, we will be arranging further WebEx sessions in the coming months to support users in getting familiarised with the new interfaces and features.
On the helpdesk, we dealt with 9776 queries during this fiscal year (averaging over 40 tickets per day), 18% of which came from Primary Care users, 33% from Secondary Care, 4% from Administrators, 38% from Trainee users (Trainees, Educational Supervisors, TPDs etc) and Deanery support teams. 7% of the queries were from other users, including MSF raters who are not SOAR users (Pharmacists, Receptionists, GP Practice Managers etc).
The total is a bit higher than the 9000 queries dealt with in 2013/2014. This was due to two large spikes in May 2014 and January 2015, following a system glitch caused by errors when importing Trainee data from external systems. If we were to discount these incidents, the total query count comes down to 7667, a daily average of 32.
SOAR Redesign project
Towards the end/start of every fiscal year, we review all the collated user feedback and prioritise our developments for SOAR against our allocated budget. One of the most frequent pieces of feedback from our users has been the need to improve the navigation and usability of SOAR.
In previous years we had to prioritise the functional aspects of the system to ensure that doctors are able to complete their appraisals via online forms and uploading of supporting information. For the first time in eight years we were able to address the needs of the users by redesigning the SOAR user interface.
New Dashboards for
all user roles
As part of the redesign, we have created a new dashboard for all the user roles on SOAR. When an Appraisee logs in, there will be a timeline feature that lets them see where they are at within an appraisal cycle, and what’s still to be actioned. When an Appraiser logs in, they can see a list of their scheduled appraisals and the status of each at a glance, as well as a quick view to see which appraisees are due their next appraisals.
For ROs and Administrators, they should be able to see how many of their doctors are due for Revalidation, and are deemed by SOAR as “Ready” or “Not Ready”. New dashboards have also been created for those with Trainee roles (TPDs, Educational Supervisors, etc).
Changes to Document
Upload feature
Previously we had a lot of users who were confused about uploading documents and the need to link them to Form 3 afterwards. As a result, we have removed the "My Documents" facility on SOAR. All previously uploaded documents on SOAR are now held in the "Archived" section when the Appraisee logs in, and they can be re-used for future appraisals if so desired.
Uploading documents now can only be done directly on Form 3 Domains.
The idea is to help the Appraisee focus on the appraisal they are working through, and to help limit them to one (annual) appraisal at a time.
New Form 4 PDF design
From the user feedback, we have redesigned the PDF of Form 4 so that it is a better formatted document. This allows the Appraisee to download the new PDF (once Form 4 has been signed off) and forward it to their relevant agencies or place(s) of employment as proof of appraisal.
Forms 5A, B and C
We have also created the complete set of online Form 5's on SOAR:
• Form 5A - Exemption from Appraisal
• Form 5B - Non-engagement with Appraisal
• Form 5C - Clinical Governance issues
Forms 5A and 5B are used in lieu of Form 4 (Summary of Appraisal) and will require the Appraisal Lead's sign off; Form 5C is used to log any relevant Clinical Governance issues.
All three forms can now be completed directly on SOAR.
Sessional GP Claim Form
In collaboration with NSS, we have developed a Sessional GPs Claim Form on SOAR.
The claim form will automatically appear on the Appraisees’ appraisal pages once Form 4 has been approved. (They will also be reminded of this via system automated emails.)
The submitted claim forms are downloaded and processed by NSS at quarterly intervals, and this all takes place outside of SOAR.
Ad hoc changing of Appraisers
during appraisals
There have been occasions where a change of Appraiser was needed at an appraisal due to any number of reasons. We have now implemented a function on the interview pages that allow Local Health Board Admins to change the Appraiser (and/or Co-Appraiser) to another Appraiser within the Health Board.
Changing the Appraiser on the interview page will not change the actual Appraiser/Appraisee allocation. Similarly, changing the Appraiser/Appraisee allocation will not change the appraiser on the interview page.
Once the Appraiser on the interview page is changed, the new Appraiser will be granted access to any forms submitted by the Appraisee, and it is the new Appraiser's responsibility to draft and approve the Form 4 for this appraisal.
ROs and Appraisal Leads
requesting access to submitted
Forms 1-3
Submitted Appraisal Forms 1-3 are confidential to the Appraiser and Appraisee only.
However, following user feedback, we have developed a "Grant Access" function where the RO and/or Appraisal Lead may request access to an Appraisee’s submitted forms.
This is the equivalent of an RO requesting to see their doctor’s paper documents. With the appraisal documents now stored on SOAR, this function will enable the Appraisee to grant their RO easy and direct access to the files.
Recognition of Trainers on SOAR
There is now a requirement from the GMC for Trainers in Scotland to be “recognised”. Approved GP Trainers are not included as they are already subject to a different process.
To help facilitate this, all “named trainers” have been identified on SOAR and they will now be required to complete the "Recognition of Trainer" (RoT) section as part of their Form 3 submission.
We have also built in provisions for those who wish to collate supporting information in preparation for becoming a Trainer.
To avoid duplication of information, we are directing users to the Scottish Trainer Framework website for guidance: www.scottishtrainerframework.org
Revalidated Doctors in Scotland
There are around 13,000 doctors on SOAR (in Primary and Secondary Care). It was estimated that around 40% of doctors in Scotland would be revalidated in 2014/2015. Figures obtained from the GMC Connect import file into SOAR confirms that 4112 doctors (32%) were revalidated in Scotland from 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015.
For those working in Scotland, if the second last digit of your GMC number is 4 or 6, you will have been revalidated (hopefully!) in 2013/2014. For 2014/2015, it is 0, 5, 7 or 8; and for 2015/2016 it is 1, 2, 3 or 9.
Once a doctor has been revalidated, their next Revalidation date will be 5 years from then.
Of all the Revalidation recommendations made during this fiscal year, 272 recommendations were made via SOAR, and 3840 made directly on GMC Connect.2
2 Data taken from GMC Connect/
SOAR import files
Revalidation data on SOAR
With support from the GMC we are also able to display an appraisee’s revalidation details on their dashboard when they login.
MSF on SOAR
Throughout the past year we explored different options for continuing MSF support on SOAR, including the use of the NES ePortfolio MSF tool. After much deliberation, we have negotiated a licence renewal agreement with WASP Software, who will continue to provide the MSF facility for Scottish doctors until March 2016. We will review the situation again nearer the time.
What else do we have planned for 2015/2016?
Future projects and Impacts
SOAR team moving to NES Digital
As part of the NES organisational restructure, the SOAR support team consisting of Information Manager (William Liu) and 2x Information Technicians (Kris Wright and Alistair Bryan) will be moved out of the Medical directorate and into the new NES Digital directorate in late 2015.
The idea is to put all the IT minded/skilled personnel into one centrally organised and managed directorate to improve efficiency and resource.
As some of you might be aware, the previous NES training management programme was recently rewritten into a new system called Turas.
The plan going forward is to pull all NES IT systems into Turas so it is a one-system approach, which will have many benefits from a user point of view - for example, improved performance (no more signing in from multiple systems) and improved data sharing (no need to send or upload the same files across different systems).
SOAR is not scheduled to be written into Turas until 2016 at the earliest.
William, Kris and Alistair will continue to provide SOAR user support, as well as AV and IT support at Medical Appraiser training events. Service to SOAR and users will not be affected by this change.
MSF - beyond 2016?
We are looking at options to continue MSF support on SOAR beyond March 2016. It might be that there are tools on Turas that could be adapted for this, or, if funding and resources are available, we could explore other options.
Funding and resources have NOT been committed beyond this point. But we will be exploring all options and hope to make an announcement in due course.
Recognition of Trainers – Form 7
At the time of writing, we have created the online RoT form for Appraisees to complete as part of their Form 4. At the moment, Directors of Medical Education (DMEs) and Educational Organisations (EOs) have no access to this on SOAR. To facilitate this, we are working on a “Form 7” which will be created automatically by the system upon Form 4 sign off.
Form 7 will be a read-only form which will consist of the submitted RoT form from the Appraisee, and the appraisal summary as documented by the Appraiser on Form 4.
DMEs and EOs will NOT have access to Form 4 – only Form 7.
CPD log
Following user feedback, we have been working on a generic CPD log function on SOAR. This allows the Appraisee to log their learning activities, with the option to reflect on individual entries or as an overview. (Designed to replace the spreadsheet log on the website.) Plans are also afoot for linking the new setup with the soon-to-be-launched GP CPD Connect system.
New Reporting Tool
We are looking to implement a new reporting tool on SOAR which would allow us to create adhoc reports to complement the existing range of reports. More information on this in due course.
These are just a few of the things we have worked on. It's a lot of work, not to mention the continual user support... How will users learn of the new functions?
WebEx
As already mentioned, we intend to schedule a new series of WebEx sessions later on in the year. This will be organised in the coming months and a full schedule of sessions will be published on the Medical Appraisal Scotland website in due course.
Visit www.appraisal.nes.scot.nhs.uk for more details!
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