November 2024 changes

1. Login functions

After the system changes are introduced, the current SOAR login mechanism will be replaced with the more advanced/secure 2-factor login offered by Turas, utilising NHS Scotland's Microsoft infrastructure.

2. Appraisee redesign

Appraisee screens/interface have been redesigned to improve the user experience.  We have removed all references for appraisal forms and GMC domains, instead, the structure is more aligned with supporting information requirements as per GMC revalidation processes.

3. Updated Good Medical Practice (2024)

Form 4 summaries have been realigned to match the updated GMP 2024 for revalidation purposes.

The Turas platform is designed by NES to be a one-stop shop for all health and social care tools and learning resources.  SOAR is an application hosted on the Turas platform, which is why you will require a Turas account to access SOAR.

https://turasdashboard.nes.nhs.scot/

The changes are funded by Scottish Government in response to the all-system-wide user survey in 2022, conducted by an external provider.  The main feedback from the report was that we needed to update/improve the appraisee user journey to remove duplications and to simplify the interface; and to improve the login mechanism.

We are looking to deploy the changes on 13th November 2024, we will confirm with an all-systems news alert to all users on SOAR as soon as the timing has been agreed with external and internal developers on how long SOAR will be taken offline for.

Because we are changing the way users login to SOAR, this will impact EVERYONE.

All doctors (regardless of primary or secondary care, or trainees, or Ed Sups, or ROs or DMEs etc) and all admins - everyone will need to create a Turas account if they don't have one, and link it to SOAR if they have not already done so.

Click for: Instructions on how to login - where a step-by-step guide has been provided.

Yes - proceed as you are with your appraisal preparations.  Nothing will be lost from a data point of view.

Only change you might see after the go live is that some of your uploaded documents will appear in a slightly different section due to the GMP changes.  Appraisers have been asked to ignore this discrepancy - so long as all the supporting information and reflections etc are included in the submission, they have been asked to proceed as is without the need for you to resubmit anything. 

As per recent newsletters, make sure you:

1. have a Turas account and link it to SOAR; and
2. check your appraisal history to make sure you have no historic incomplete appraisals prior to the system changes.

In the new appraisee setup, you will not be able to progress with a new appraisal until you have completed the old incomplete appraisals first.

Despite the move to the NES Turas platform, access rights to user details on SOAR has not changed - only the Medical Appraisal team in NES have the necessary system admins rights on SOAR, and even at that it’s only to help investigate and resolve helpdesk user queries.

Turas authentication provides audit logging (of sign in and other operations) by default - with a retention period of 90 days - which includes the user's ID, their client IP address, and the ID of the application they are signing into.

Management of access on SOAR has not changed, even though users can create Turas accounts, only health board admin teams can add legitimate users and user roles to SOAR, and users can only access the necessary through their allocated user roles.

It's going to be a two-pronged approach (once you have conducted your local HR protocols/checks):

1. Ask the user to create a Turas account;
2. Ask the user for the email address they used to create the Turas account

Then you would create the SOAR user profile as per usual (create profile with Turas email address, add user role(s), create password).  See item 2 from SOAR guidance for admins for step-by-step.

We are actively working in the background to update the information on our website.  We are aiming to coincide the changes with the October go live.  Some changes have already taken place, for example the Appraiser course training modules have been updated to reflect the new Good Medical Practice.  We are working on the toolkits and other resources next and will work our way through the whole site.

Please bear with us as we work our way through this.

As soon as the go live date and time has been confirmed, we will organise a series of lunch time live webinar demos to showcase the changes, the new appraisee user journey and future plans.

We will announce this via SOAR's News Alerts once the go live date and time is confirmed.