SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA) WITH DEVELOPERS
A new Service Level Agreement (SLA) was agreed with our developers for 2016/2017. This ensured that RoT is properly supported during this first year of recognition processes, as well as giving us greater flexibility should changes to any aspects of SOAR be required (from minor bug fixes, or text changes, to more complex functional amendments).
FUTURE PROJECTS AND IMPACTS
SOAR Helpdesk
The proposed change in SOAR’s helpdesk support software remains in the pipeline as further refinements are added to the new system. In the interim, SOAR will continue to use its existing setup (with Zendesk), and the move to the new software (ServiceNow) delayed until 2017/2018.
From a user’s point of view, there is no change or impact on them. All SOAR queries will continue to be sent to SOAR@nes.scot.nhs.uk and they will be picked up and actioned as per normal.
SUPPORTING SOAR USERS
During 2016/2017, the SOAR helpdesk responded to 7002 enquiries – almost 500 less compared to the previous fiscal year. Of the queries we dealt with, 1975 (28%) were from Primary Care users (GPs and Primary Care Admin teams); 3026 (43%) were from Secondary Care users (including Admin teams); and Trainee queries came to 1353 (20%); with 648 queries from Other users (9%), such as MSF Raters who are not SOAR users (Pharmacists, Receptionists, GP Practice Managers, etc), and DMEs (Directors of Medical Education) and EOs (Educational Organisations) querying RoT (Recognition of Trainer) processes.
The reduction in helpdesk queries is also reflected in the reduced booking and attendance in SOAR live demo sessions. Last year we scheduled 12 sessions, from which 29 places were booked, with 17 users attending (59% attendance rate). This is a significant reduction compared to the previous year where we had 61 bookings from 17 sessions (although the attendance was lower at 55%).
The demos allowed us to demonstrate the appraisal process on SOAR, showing 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.
Upon reflection on the low uptake, we decided to merge the Primary and Secondary Care sessions into one demo, but continue to provide monthly sessions. If uptake continues to be low, we will review and reduce this further to improve efficiency and capacity.
Despite the lower number of support queries, 2016/2017 has been a busy year for the SOAR team.
1Figures taken from Zendesk support system
SOAR Helpdesk - tickets submitted by user groups
SOAR Helpdesk - tickets received
RECOGNITION OF TRAINER (ROT) GMC SUBMISSION
Following the RoT development to enable Trainers to complete the necessary forms on SOAR, further functions to support RoT processes in Year 2 and onwards (simplified RoT form; improved DME/EO functions etc) were developed and deployed in May and July 2016. This was followed by the successful submission to the GMC of 3447 trainers on 29th July 2016.
POST GMC-SUBMISSION ROT PROCESSES
All 3447 trainers submitted to the GMC are now recognised trainers. It has since been agreed that the recognised trainers’ next RoT recognition date will fall in line with their Revalidation year. This means potentially a trainer would require to be re-recognised on SOAR in 2017/2018 (if that’s the year they are due to be revalidated), even though they had just been recognised via the July 2016 GMC submission.
New trainers who are added after July 2016 to Turas will be asked to complete the RoT forms on SOAR on their next appraisal; and the resulting Form 7 will need to be “recognised” by the relevant DME and EO. Thereafter, the next recognition date will fall in line with their Revalidation year.
The recognition process is similar to revalidation in that it happens in the background. Trainers just need to ensure they complete their annual appraisals. If needed, the DME and EO can request additional information directly from Form 7 (SOAR will send automated email notifications).
DMEs and EOs are not expected to re-recognise all trainers every year, just those who are due. Trainers, however, are expected to complete the RoT form annually as part of their appraisal.
NEW SIMULATED APPRAISAL VIDEOS RECORDING
It has been several years since the simulated appraisal videos used for Appraiser training courses have been reviewed. We were able to recruit volunteers from our Appraiser Training Tutor panel to help record some new videos with more up-to-date appraisal scenarios. This took place in late July and the edited videos were published on the Medical Appraisal Scotland website in August, replacing some of the more outdated ones:
http://www.appraisal.nes.scot.nhs.uk/be-an-appraiser/simulated-interviews.aspx
Our thanks to Drs Lorna Fleming, Krystyna Gruszecka, Hilary MacPherson, Anne Ramsay, Niall Cameron and John Taylor for volunteering in this project; and Kris Wright for editing the finalised videos.
REVIEW OF MSF OPTIONS
As had been reported in previous years, we had been reviewing our MSF options within NES to source a more sustainable setup, rather than paying continuous renewal fees to external companies.
Due to timescale, NES has renewed our subscription to WASP MSF for 2016/2017; and 2017/2018 after renegotiating our existing rates. This has given us time and opportunity to explore other MSF options.
Rather opportunistically, NES had just commissioned and completed a 360 tool for those in Leadership roles. We got in touch with other NES colleagues and are currently exploring options for a NES 360 tool that would work for all disciplines, rather than individual 360/MSF tools for different user groups which would have made it difficult for developers to maintain. This would also reduce unnecessary costs greatly. Discussions are still ongoing at time of writing but we hope to make an announcement by the end of 2017/2018.
SOAR TEAM MOVING TO NES DIGITAL
The long-proposed move of the SOAR team, consisting of Information Manager (William Liu) and 2x Information Technicians (Alistair Bryan and Kris Wright), out of the Medical directorate and into the new NES Digital directorate finally took place in the last quarter of 2016/2017.
The idea is to put all the IT minded/skilled personnel into one centrally organised and managed directorate to improve efficiency and resource.
There will be a transitional period for the team as they undergo the necessary training to re-skill themselves, with the aim of taking on some of the maintenance development work in-house. Capacity will build over time and it is hoped we can save on SLA costs in the future. The team will also continue to provide SOAR user support via the helpdesk, ensuring and minimising user impact and experience.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Medical Websites Focus Group workshop
Following user feedback, NES convened a short-term working group to identify all the NES websites and identify areas where improvements and linkages can be made. The Medical Appraisal Scotland website was one of the websites reviewed, alongside websites for the Scottish Trainer Framework (www.scottishtrainerframework.org), Share (www.share.scot.nhs.uk), Scottish Medical Training (www.scotmt.scot.nhs.uk), and Scotland Deanery (www.scotlanddeanery.nhs.scot).
A workshop took place in January 2017 with owners and key individuals of each website. The participants peer-reviewed them and lots of really useful suggestions were generated for each. After engaging with the NES web team, we intend to implement some of the suggested amendments in 2017/2018.
REPORTING TOOLS ON SOAR
As reported last year, we were about to deploy a new range of reports on SOAR, intended to replace some of the older versions that are now out-of-date. Due to unforeseen technical issues, this was delayed but we now have the function to create and deploy new reports on SOAR.
One of the first reports created was a HIS stats report, designed to help Health Board admin teams collate the necessary figures for part of their HIS Report submission.
We will continue to work through the remaining reports. New reports can be requested by Health Board Admin teams on an ad hoc basis.
DENTAL APPRAISAL ON SOAR?
Medical Appraisal had been asked for some time to help support Dental Appraisal. A pilot Dental Appraisal Course for Tutors took place in December 2016. As part of this, we were also asked to provide an estimate on cost and time for developing the required functions on SOAR to cater for Dental Appraisal. A rough quote was sourced from our external developers but due to time and funding, the project never came to fruition.
It is hope that this might be revisited in 2017/2018 as we move SOAR development and maintenance in-house.
SOARING THROUGH 2016/2017 AND BEYOND
AN OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS IN SOAR
© 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.