Support for Responsible Officers and Appraisal Leads
There were a number of new Responsible Officers (ROs) who came into post in the past 18 months. In collaboration with the GMC, NES and Scottish Government, an Induction Day was organised aimed at the newer ROs and deputy ROs, as well as those who were about to start in the role. The event was held at the GMC offices at the Tun, Edinburgh, on 1 November 2019. It was very well attended, and included a presentation from Dr Tracey Gillies (RO in NHS Lothian) plus various interactive workshops.
A further RO Day was organised by NES and Scottish Government for all ROs in Scotland. Invitation was extended also to the Appraisal Leads. This was held on 10 March 2020 at Stirling Court Hotel. Whilst attendance was impacted by the emergence of the COVID-19 outbreak, the event was still attended by 22 delegates – a mix of ROs, deputy and interim ROs and Appraisal Leads.
A National Appraisal Leads meeting was held on 13 September 2019 at the Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel. The meeting was well attended on the day and included a workshop on Appraiser Training course changes (see Plans for 2020/2021 for more details).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Appraisal Leads meeting planned for 30 April, along with the annual Scottish Medical Appraisers Conference on 1 May 2020 were both cancelled.
We held two National Appraisal Administrators meetings this year. The first was held on 31 July 2019 at NES offices in Edinburgh (West Port), where an overview of some potential changes to the Appraiser training applications process was presented and discussed (see Plans for 2020/2021 for more details). The second meeting was held on 30 January 2020 at Stirling Court Hotel, where we introduced a training development session as part of the away day to help meet the health board teams’ learning needs.
This was well received, and we aim to include more (and varied) training sessions at future meetings.
Recruitment
A Tutors Training & Induction day was held on 4 September 2019 at Murrayshall Hotel, where we successfully trained 14 additional tutors to join our training course tutors cohort. We currently have 52 active tutors to help run the Appraiser training courses.
Conference
The annual Appraiser Course Tutors Conference was held on 5 September 2019 at Murrayshall Hotel. A series of interactive workshops and plenary discussions was had in the morning, utilising everyone’s experience and exploring the options to review and improve the existing training programme (see Plans for 2020/2021 for more details).
An interactive Coaching Skills session was delivered by Dr Iain Wallace in the afternoon. Dr Wallace was formerly the Responsible Officer in NHS Lanarkshire and his session was very well received by the tutors.
The 2018/2019 Medical Appraisal & Revalidation Quality Assurance (MARQA) review was published in December 2019. The review consisted of submissions from all 46 designated bodies in Scotland, reviewed and assessed by a panel convened by NES.
It has been a successful year for Medical Appraisal and Revalidation in Scotland with the highest appraisal completion rate to date at 96%; with deferral rates also falling (to 7%) it suggests that the processes are now firmly embedded in Scotland.
The panel acknowledged the efforts and improvements made in the past year by NHS Dumfries & Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Highland and NHS Tayside. They also identified that Clinical Fellows comprise a growing sub-group of doctors who require an appraisal.
Three recommendations were made:
Designated bodies to achieve an appraisal completion rate of 90% separately in Primary and Secondary Care appraisals
Designated bodies should ensure that there are systems in place to identify and support Clinical Fellows to provide them with an appraisal
Continuing support should be given to Appraisers to ensure that they maintain their appraisal skills
The full report can be accessed via the Medical Appraisal Scotland website.
Due to the global pandemic, the 2019/2020 review was postponed.
William Liu Training Manager (Medical Appraisal)
Rachel Brand-Smith left us in November to take up a role in the Medical Directorate. Rachel’s can-do attitude and enthusiasm shall be missed.
Hannah Asrih
Professor Amjad Khan NES Revalidation Lead
Dr Christiane Shrimpton Associate Postgraduate Dean for Appraisal and Revalidation
William Liu Training Manager (Medical Appraisal)
Hannah Asrih Administrative Officer (Medical Appraisal)
Stacey Lucas Administrative Officer (Medical Appraisal)
Joyce McCrae Administrative Officer (Medical Appraisal)
Michael Teasdale Analyst Business Partner (Digital)