The following is a collection of Frequently Asked Questions by doctors working in Scotland, regarding Multi-Source Feedback.
Please note the MSF tool on SOAR is NOT designed for Trainee doctors usage. If you are a Trainee doctor and need to carry out an MSF, please contact your Deanery regional team for further assistance.
If you have any queries that don't appear below, please contact the SOAR Helpdesk for further assistance.
Based on research and background work done by Drs Murray Lough and Diane Kelly, NES developed an MSF tool designed to be used by all doctors working in Scotland. The MSF tool was built into an online system by a company called WASP.
Funding was provided by Scottish government to link SOAR with this MSF tool, so that users can access the WASP MSF system via SOAR, and more importantly, the MSF reports can be automatically sent to SOAR near the time of the appraisal meeting.
This link project was completed and deployed to SOAR on 19th February 2013.
For general information about the Colleague Feedback/MSF process please visit the section in the Scottish Medical Appraisal Toolkit.
If you are accessing MSF via SOAR for the first time, you may be asked at some stage to "Connect to WASP". The NES MSF tool was developed by a company called WASP, so when you come across "WASP" or "WASP MSF" - that is what it is referring to.
For full details of MSF process on SOAR please check out the section in the Appraisal Toolkit.
MSF can be initiated at any time throughout the year.
Each 5 year revalidation cycle should include one MSF report.
It is our recommendation that appraisees try and time it around 4-6 weeks before their appraisals to tie in with the automated processes.
MSF on WASP takes 3 weeks (to allow raters time to provide feedback). if the report has enough rater responses and the appraisee has done their self assessment, then it closes automatically after 3 weeks.
If interview has been scheduled on SOAR, then 7 days before interview date SOAR attempt to download the report automatically (if available) and sends out an auto email confirmation when completed.
Otherwise the report would simply sit on WASP until the appraisee manually downloads it.
Link your WASP and SOAR accounts first, then manually download the MSF report.
If for whatever reason, when you click on the "Download latest data" button and you are told "No MSF Data available", email us at SOAR@nes.scot.nhs.uk with your GMC number and we will investigate this further for you.
If you receive the "Error 500" page, it means your SOAR and WASP accounts have not been able to link up, or the link is broken. Typically the reason for this is because the email address you have on SOAR and WASP are different (maybe you updated the email address on SOAR).
To resolve this, please email SOAR@nes.scot.nhs.uk, enter "Error 500" in the subject title, and in the email itself, tell us your GMC number and your preferred email address to use, and we will then manually update the record for you.
For those who are using the WASP MSF tool from SOAR, there is a "Report due date" associated with each MSF report (usually 3 weeks after you have nominated your raters).
In order for the report to be created, a minimum of 8 rater-responses is required and the self-assessment needs to be completed.
So long as this requirement is met, then the MSF report will be generated on the night of the "Report due date". Thereafter, SOAR will download the report for you 7 days prior to the appraisal meeting date.
Due to the anonymised nature of the MSF process, you are not meant to find out who has/hasn't responded to the MSF requests, just numbers.
If you wish to contact the non-responders, simply trigger the reminder email for all - the WASP system will not email those who have already completed the requested feedback.
If you to to add more raters to the list, simply follow steps 1-4 above, and then add more raters just as you did so when you first nominated your raters.
No - submit your appraisal forms when you are ready to.
When the MSF report is ready, it will automatically be downloaded to your submitted forms. The system will also email the appraiser alerting them to this, so there is literally no action required from you.
If your MSF report is ready before you submit your appraisal forms, it will be downloaded to your draft Appraisal Form 3 Domain 3 so when you submit your appraisal forms it will automatically be there for the appraiser to review.
Simply upload your MSF report via the MSF page:
Do not forget to upload your reflections!
Alternatively you can also upload directly into Form 3 (Domain 3), and submit it when all your forms have been completed.
Because you are only required to do one MSF over a 5 year (revalidation) cycle, the WASP system was not configured to do MSF in continuous years. However, as with most things, we do have a workaround if this is a requirement for you.
We just need to ensure you definitely have a copy of the most recent MSF report. Once confirmed we will go into WASP and delete this old MSF so that you can proceed with a fresh one.
Not ideal but it's the next best thing.
To check if you have a copy of your old MSF, either click on "MSF" from the menu, which should show you a list of your historical MSFs as downloaded from WASP; or navigate to your appraisal history and within each appraisal where the submitted forms 1-3 are archived. If the MSF was submitted it will be archived in one of your appraisals.
Once confirmed that you have this (or if you deem that you don't need it), to proceed with a new MSF please submit a helpdesk ticket for further assistance (remember to include your GMC number please): SOAR@nes.scot.nhs.uk
Our apologies for the confusion, but the email you received will be triggered if your MSF report is due and you have not received enough rater responses, OR you have not completed the required self assessment questionnaire (most common scenario). To do this:
A lot of times it's a case of users not clicking on the "Finish" button on the last page.
If you initiated the MSF process by mistake (perhaps you were just checking things out) - let us know and we will delete this for you.
This page was last updated on: 01/02/2023