After the appraisal meeting, it is the appraiser’s responsibility to draft the Form 4 summary.
It's important to acknowledge the Form 4 domains and where the supporting information discussion should go, matching up to the updated GMP:
Please take care in adding the summaries in the appropriate sections.
To create the Form 4, the appraiser would login to SOAR and navigate to the appraisal meeting page and click on the "Create Form 4" button (1).
The Form 4 will appear in a new page for completion.
Section A is split into the four GMP domains.
In Domain 1, "Knowledge, skills and development", you are asked to confirm if a CPD log was submitted, and similarly if any Quality Improvement Activities were submitted and discussed.
Summarise the discussions over the appraisee's learning and education, be mindful to reference the Appraisee’s reflections.
It’s also helpful to include just a short line or two describing what the appraisee does, to provide context to the reader.
And where applicable, add any agreed outcomes and actions for the appraisee.
In Domain 2, "Patients, partnership and communication", confirm if a PSQ was submitted and reflected, and also whether the appraisee was involved with any complaints.
Summarise the discussions, and any agreed actions for the appraisee.
In Domain 3, "Colleagues, culture and safety", confirm if a MSF was submitted, along with completion of the health declarations. Make sure also to confirm that there was a "review of significant events", and summarise the discussions and reflections, and any agreed outcomes in the comments boxes.
And in Domain 4, "Trust and professionalism", confirm that the appraisee has completed the Probity statement and a summary of any discussions as appropriate.
In section B, you are asked to consider if you feel the appraisee if on track for revalidation.
It is anticipated that for the vast majority of doctors, they are on track for revalidation, even if they were missing things like MSF or PSQ. So long as they are aware of what they are required to do, they are considered on track.
Only select "No" if you feel strongly about it through lack of supporting evidence or engagement, and it will be flagged for the Responsible Officer’s attention when they come to review their revalidation recommendations.
Also in this section, if the appraisee has declared anything that has prompted additional information, they will be flagged as "Issues" to ensure you are aware and this area is discussed.
If the issue is resolved, simply click on the "Resolved" button and it will be marked accordingly. Summarise the key points from your discussions.
Section C of the Form 4 is around the appraisee's PDP.
Their previously agreed learning needs will appear first (unless it's their first appraisal on SOAR), along with the progress in each item; and underneath this section is the draft section for what they’ve proposed to learn for the year ahead.
It’s not uncommon for this to change following discussions. For example, the appraisee might have several incomplete activities from last year, and they proposed to undertake more in the next 12 months. It might be that during the appraisal you both agree that this was not realistic or achievable, so you both agree for certain items to be removed. You could go in and edit this by deleting the learning items as needed, or marking any "in-progress" items as "not continuing".
Or indeed during the appraisal you both agree that it would be more appropriate for the appraisee to do something else. In which case either the appraisee edits their PDP and re-submits, or you can amend this directly on the Form 4.
The "Academic Medicine" section is primarily for co-appraisers from the university to complete, but if agreeable, you can draft this section also.
The ROT section will appear if the appraisee has completed the ROT form.
If ROT is not applicable to them, have the appraisee delete the ROT form so that it appears blank, and then re-submit. That should remove ROT from Form 4.
Otherwise, simply summarise the necessary in the appropriate boxes.
It is important to stress here that the ROT section is made available to Directors of Medical Education (DMEs) for the purposes of recognising the appraisee’s trainer roles. DMEs have no other access to ANY parts of the Form 4, just the ROT section.
So please avoid adding comments like "Please see above", because they can’t see any other parts of the appraisal process. Even if it’s a case of copy and paste, please make sure the ROT summaries sit in this section of the Form 4.
When you are ready, click on the "Forward" button to send the Form 4 on.
Once forwarded, you will not be able to make any changes to it.
The next step rests with the appraisee to review and approve.
This page was last updated on: 27/01/2025
