Foreword
Professor Amjad Khan
Postgraduate GP Dean, NES Revalidation Lead
It is an absolute pleasure to introduce this year’s annual report particularly as I am writing this on my final day as Postgraduate GP Dean at NHS Education for Scotland.
The team have made tremendous advances in the way that we train and update our appraisers throughout Scotland. I would like to pay tribute to the team at NES led by Christiane Shrimpton and William Liu for the dedication, hard work and professionalism with which they have continued to undertake the work in very challenging circumstances. Our courses could not have been delivered without the huge input of our experienced and knowledgeable tutors to whom I am extremely grateful and thank them for their continued input. Finally, I would like to thank our colleagues at Scottish Government under the leadership of Professor Ian Finlay (who retired in December 2022), who have always provided support and guidance when needed.
The report highlights the quantity and quality of our courses and the input we have had into the development not only of the appraisal guidance and but also SOAR and its successor in the near future. We continue to emphasise the importance of well-being during appraisal discussions not only because this is probably the only forum for a one-to-one confidential meeting between professionals, but also because our colleagues continue to face challenging circumstances in the health and social care arenas.
I have great confidence in the team here at NES to continue the fantastic work outlined in the report over the coming years.
Overview of Medical Appraisal in Scotland
Doctor Christiane Shrimpton
Associate Postgraduate Dean for Appraisal and Revalidation
The time has come to use the annual report to reflect on another busy year for the Appraisal and Revalidation team at NES.
As our working lives have gradually returned to more opportunities for interactions in person, we have been mindful not to lose the positive changes we have had to make as a result of the pandemic. So much of the virtual working we would never have envisaged as possible previously has worked well and will remain part of what we do now.
As you can see from the report the virtual New Appraiser training continues to receive good feedback and many doctors have commented that it makes it much more accessible and feasible to attend. We also appreciate that this mode of delivery does not suit everybody, and we have been able to offer some face-to-face training as well. Our different sessions for current appraisers to develop and stay up to date in their role have been well received. The NES delivered Refresher sessions are now part of the regular programme again and they are supplemented by topic-based sessions that have covered coaching and mentoring skills that can be used in appraisal discussions as well as a Recognition of Trainer session. We will continue to use feedback to improve the current offer as well as looking at additional sessions to develop in future.
The remote delivery of the annual NES conference over the last few years has allowed the recording of sessions so that anyone not available or free to attend can use these for their own development at a later time. The links for the appraiser sessions over the last two years are now supplemented by access to some of this year’s annual conference as one option for self-directed learning and reflection on the content. We will have a stand-alone separate appraisal conference in September that I am very much looking forward to.
The Revalidation Delivery Board Scotland (RDBS) has been busy over this period with the publication of updated guidance on appraisal for revalidation purposes and the commissioning of a review of SOAR. This will lead to an updating of the SOAR platform to make it more user friendly and also take into account the updated Good Medical Practice guidance once this will be published by the General Medical Council later this year. I want to thank the team from the Scottish Government for bringing together all relevant stakeholders in Scotland and leading the regular review and development of appraisal and revalidation in Scotland. My special thanks go to Professor Ian Finlay who we will miss as chair of the RDBS following his retirement at the end of 2022. I look forward to working with Professor Marion Bain who has now taken over from him.
We have a strong appraiser team in Scotland with excellent support from the RDBS, NES and local appraisal leads and Responsible Officers. It continues to be a pleasure to work with appraisal leads and course tutors and I want to thank all of them as well as the NES team who have been outstanding in their support once again. Our new team members have settled in well. As we say farewell to Professor Amjad Khan, whose guidance and support I will miss, I want to thank him and wish him all the best for his retirement. Without all of you and our appraisers who have embraced their role and provided much needed support to doctors at a time that remains very challenging in the NHS appraisal in Scotland would not be as well received as it is.
I look forward to the continuation of my work with you all. Look out for the invites to the appraisal conference later in the year.
