News and Events

Many activities in 2020/2021 were either postponed or scaled back due to the pandemic. For example, the MARQA (Medical Appraisal & Revalidation Quality Assurance) review for 2019/2020 was cancelled to help ease pressure on the workforce.

Recruitment of appraiser course tutors were also cancelled this year; and the course tutors conference was replaced by a feedback session on how we had proposed to run the New Appraiser training in the new remote delivery format.

Below are some of the activities we were able to engage in:

Responsible Officers Information Day
NES did not run any development events for ROs but did join the Q&A panel in the rescheduled GMC-run RO Information Day which took place on 29 April 2021.

Some of the key themes shared included:

• An appraisal missed because of the pandemic won’t prevent the RO from making a recommendation to revalidate if the doctor met the requirements;
• GMC requirements to revalidate remains valid and in place during the pandemic but recognised that some supporting information may be difficult to obtain;
• A reminder that a deferral carries no negative implications.

There was also a discussion around the collation of Patient Feedback. The core of it has not changed:

• Formal solicited feedback required once every 5 years;
• Allow a range of patients to take part
• Ensure patients are not selected by the doctor; and
• Doctor to receive anonymised summary of their feedback to reflect on.

Room for flexibility however was discussed:

• Informal or unsolicited feedback review encouraged at each appraisal;
• GMC templates now removed so that providers could use systems and documents that work locally.

Support for Appraisal Leads and Appraisal Admins

NES organised two National Appraisal Leads meeting via MS Teams on 9 June and 27 October 2020 respectively. Both meetings were very well attended and received.

The first meeting in June focussed on each health board’s preparations in the scheduled restart of appraisal in October as per CMO’s communication; and the difficulties surrounding the collation of Patient Feedback – the main sticking point being GDPR.

In the October meeting, the Appraisal Leads shared their respective and collated experiences of the appraisal restart and continued challenges with patient feedback. A discussion was also had on the new recruitment processes which was shared in August 2020, outlining eligibility criteria in gaining a place on the NES appraiser training programme, and guidance for Appraisal Leads in recruiting appraisers who were returning from extended absence or trained elsewhere.

The appraiser recruitment process document has been shared as an Appraisal Leads resource, which is available on the Medical Appraisal Scotland website:

https://www.appraisal.nes.scot.nhs.uk/i-want-access-to/appraisal-leads/appr-appointment.aspx

There was no formal Appraisal Admin Teams meeting organised in 2020/2021 due to many staff members being redeployed and retirement. Instead, an informal “coffee morning” via MS Teams was organised on 6 May 2021 to catch up with everyone and discuss their experiences and workload during the pandemic. This was very well received, and we intend to run more of these in 2021/2022.