My involvement with appraisal began in 2003 and was motivated by both an interest in medical education and a conviction that for a ‘caring’ profession medicine was often very poor in supporting colleagues who were struggling in their role. Not surprisingly I will happily argue that appraisal can not only contribute to professional development and excellence but can also help colleagues who for whatever reason are at risk of drifting into the realms of under performance.

 

In Scotland even before the introduction of revalidation we had managed to achieve a consistently high level of engagement with appraisal across all specialities and could claim with some certainty that the ethos and the mechanics of appraisal were reasonably consistent whether you were a single-handed GP in Shetland or a specialist in a large teaching hospital.

 

Revalidation has had a fairly long gestation but when it arrived like many others I was very interested to see how revalidation would influence the appraisal process; would there be positive outcomes or could the explicit link to revalidation damage the process? The UMbRELLA project represented an ideal opportunity to work with colleagues from across the UK to evaluate the impact of revalidation. This was the largest and undoubtedly the most comprehensive and complex piece of work I have been involved with, involving the collection and analysis of a huge amount of material.

 

This research has provided an opportunity to analyse how revalidation has impacted across all sections of the medical workforce and to assess the Impact on the appraisal process. A clear benefit of revalidation has been that it has extended the appraisal process to groups of our colleagues who may have been previously regarded as hard to engage with or perhaps ‘easy to ignore’. The introduction of revalidation has clearly resulted in a more equitable and inclusive system where all doctors regardless of role have to be offered an appraisal by their employer and there is evidence from UMbRELLA that these groups see the process of revalidation as providing them with meaningful validation.

 

I have a very familiar refrain that if appraisal is to be effective then appraisers and appraisees need meaningful support. The UMbRELLA report emphasises that the skills of the appraiser and the resources available for appraisees are key to enhancing the experience of the appraisal and revalidation process. NES has led the way in providing appraiser training and supporting development in all areas identified as contributing to an effective appraisal and revalidation process. The results of UMbRELLA and the Pearson review demonstrate that Scotland is very well placed.

 

I would like to thank the Scottish Government and the revalidation delivery board for their continuing support and the central appraisal team at NES for all their efforts over the last year. As always I would like to acknowledge the efforts of all those involved in delivering and supporting the appraisal process at a local level; the administrative teams, the appraisers, course tutors and lead appraisers deserve recognition for their efforts and my particular thanks.