Where do I start?

Whether you have just been recruited or returning after an absence, congratulations on your recruitment and welcome to the medical appraiser role.

This resource is intended as a starter guide for those starting out their journey as a medical appraiser in Scotland.

First steps...

Step 1: making contact

Appraisal is about forging relationships with your appraisees and in a similar vein, we strongly suggest your start by making contact with your Local Administration Team and your Appraisal Lead.

The Local Administration Team is responsible for your appraisee allocation and your first point of contact for any appraisal or revalidation related queries.

Depending on which health board area you appraise in, the Local Administration Team may also arrange the appraisal meetings.  If not, then it is your responsibility to organise your own diary (check with your Appraisal Lead and Local Administration Team for clarification).

Step 2: appraiser role induction

For those who attended the New Appraiser training, you are asked to complete your partial Form 4 based on the mini appraisal you carried out and share it with your Appraisal Lead as part of your induction.  Try and arrange for this as soon as you can.

Also, before attending the appraiser training, you would have had discussions with your Appraisal Lead (and your clinical director or line manager) regarding the number of appraisals/appraisees you were expected to undertake per annum.  Make sure you confirm this as soon as possible so that the local team can work on the appraisee allocations.

Step 3: bookmark the Medical Appraisal Scotland website

https://www.appraisal.nes.scot.nhs.uk

The Medical Appraisal Scotland team at PSD Scotland is responsible for the training of medical appraisers, as well as the provision of support for appraisal and revalidation for clinicians working in Scotland.  Please bookmark the above URL for easy future access, including to SOAR.

Step 4: Familiarise yourself with SOAR

Although no formal training was included with the New (or Refresher) Appraiser training, guidance and resources are available on our website on navigating SOAR.  Please make sure you visit the SOAR Appraiser guidance section.

Who’s who?

There are key personnel you need to know of in the appraisal and revalidation processes:

• Your Appraisal Lead is responsible for overseeing your health board’s appraisal process (typically, there will be one for primary care, and another for secondary care).
• In Scotland, your Responsible Officer (RO) is usually the Medical Director, and they are responsible for making revalidation recommendations in the health board, aided by the Appraisal Leads and Administration Team.
• The Local Administration Team provides support to Appraisers and Appraisal Leads; and is responsible for the administration of appraisal at a local health board level, including SOAR.
• The Medical Appraisal Scotland Team (at PSDS) provides support for all health boards regarding medical appraisal and revalidation.

There are other processes associated with appraisal that you need to be aware of, such as Recognition of Trainer (ROT), joint academic appraisals etc.  These are the other related users you may encounter:

• Co-Appraiser – if your appraisee is a clinical academic, it is likely the appraisal meeting will need to be a joint appraisal with the university appraiser.  This person is referred to as the Co-Appraiser on SOAR and they are involved/included in the appraisal process (they have access to submitted forms; and will also approve/sign off the appraisal summary Form 4 you draft).
• The Appraisal Co-ordinator role on SOAR is designed to inform individuals of a particular appraisee’s appraisal completion, such as clinical leads, associate advisors etc; but this role has been amended to allow university and dental admin colleagues to provide admin support for those colleagues using SOAR for their appraisals.
• Director of Medical Education (DME) is responsible for making ensuring those with a recognised trainer role continue to meet the requirements to remain a trainer.
• Educational Organisations (EOs) are responsible for those with undergraduate trainer roles.  Typically, the EOs are PSDS and the five medical universities.

Role of appraiser

A reminder from your appraiser training and the modules: appraisal is formative process and your role as appraiser is not to educate or dictate your appraisee’s actions; it’s to encourage them to think and reflect on their achievements and support them in their continuous learning and development.

You may also find the below information on arranging appraisal meetings useful.