ANNUAL NATIONAL APPRAISERS CONFERENCE
(Incorporated as part of the Scottish Medical Education Conference)
The annual Scottish Medical Appraisers Conference was once again held in parallel with the Scottish Medical Education Conference at the EICC on 4th and 5th of May 2017. This year we aimed to provide a mixture of workshops; to address issues relating to challenging scenarios appraisers can encounter; and a number of workshops designed to be perhaps more developmental and encouraging appraisers to think outside the box, best reflected in the feedback by two delegates:
“This was an excellent session. The presenter was enthusiastic and knowledgeable. There was just the right amount of group working and large group discussion.”
“This was great and made my attendance at conference worthwhile. Speaker had a very good knowledge of scepticism faced by appraisers, reasons behind this and workable possible solutions.”
This year we ran a programme of 8 different workshops which were delivered and repeated over the two days. A little over 300 delegates attended the joint event, from which around 90 participants took part in the Medical Appraiser workshops - and gained lots of CPD points into the bargain!
The workshops covered:
1. Negotiation Skills for Appraisers
2. Locum Doctor and SAS Grade
Appraisal - Improving the
Supporting Information
3. Tackling scepticism towards Appraisal and Revalidation
4. Supporting Doctors in Difficulty
5. Mindfulness Skills for Appraisers
6. ‘Systems thinking’ in Quality Improvement Activities
7. Unconscious Bias
8. Resilience Issues in Appraisees
The workshop feedback was generally very positive and we are very grateful to all of the workshop leaders. Many attendees valued the opportunity to network with other colleagues both in and outwith their particular sector and specialty. The interactive aspect of the workshops was also very well received by delegates. Judging from the comments, the workshops enabled a lot of attendees to reflect on their practice and implement new ideas learnt from their colleagues.
On the Friday morning, we had a very well attended plenary session when a question and answer panel session was preceded by a presentation by Una Lane, Director of Registration and Revalidation at the GMC, on “GMC Revalidation: Lessons Learned and Reflections for the Future”.
Una shared some of the initial insights from the UMbRELLA study and the Pearson review of revalidation, and there was a lively discussion of the implications of the initial findings for appraisal and the medical workforce. This was followed by a panel discussion with Prof Paul Knight acting as moderator. One clear take-home message from Una’s presentation and the discussion that followed was that Appraisal in Scotland was already meeting - and well placed to address - many of the challenges identified.
“Stimulating - encouragement regarding progress so far”
Similar to last year we again ran a drop-in stall allowing delegates to ask any questions or provide any suggestions with regards to SOAR. The stall was manned by various staff from the Medical Appraisal team and feedback suggested that this was well supported at various times over the two days.
SAVE THE DATE!
Next year’s Conference will be held on 26th and 27th April 2018 – make sure you pop these dates in your diary!
SUPPORT FOR APPRAISAL LEADS AND ROS
We are pleased to have re-introduced six monthly meetings with Appraisal Leads and Administration Leads. In the current Appraisal year we have facilitated meetings with both groups at the NES Annual Conference in May, and also earlier in the year at separate day events at Stirling Court Hotel in January.
In addition, and with the support of Scottish Government, the meeting with Responsible Officers is now an annual event, with this year’s event being held at Murrayfield Stadium on 5th December 2017.
The meetings with these three separate stakeholder groups are valuable interactions to allow the dissemination of information and to allow the Medical Appraisal team to be kept informed of developments and emergent items that could influence future training delivery.
NATIONAL APPRAISAL ADMINISTRATORS MEETING
In addition to the Stirling meeting in January, Medical Appraisal also met with Primary and Secondary Care Appraisal Administrators as part of the pre-conference meetings held on 4th May 2017 at the EICC. The meeting was attended by 15 Local Administration team members and 4 NES staff.
Prior to the meeting, an updates report was sought from the local admins, from which several highlights were discussed.
The main discussion topics focused on appraisal of Locum doctors, Job planning for Secondary Care Appraisers, and various discussions regarding SOAR functionality and documentation.
MEDICAL APPRAISAL TEAM MEMBERS UPDATE
Following internal re-alignment, William Liu, Alistair Bryan and Kris Wright have moved out of the Medical Appraisal Team to become part of the NES Digital Directorate. William will continue to lead on SOAR Development and Alistair and Kris will also continue in their IT related roles, with all three progressing their careers as IT Developers. We wish them well with this change and recognise the valuable support and contributions that they have made over the years as the Medical Appraisal training model in Scotland has evolved.
© NHS Education for Scotland 2017. You can copy or reproduce the information in this document for use within NHSScotland and for non-commercial educational purposes. Use of this document for commercial purposes is permitted only with the written permission of NES.