A to Z of terms and acronyms used in Medical Appraisal Scotland website and SOAR.
Doctors being appraised are referred to as "Appraisees".
Annual appraisal meeting between appraiser and appraisee. "Interview" is used within SOAR as an access point to forms and documents. Once submitted, an appraisee's documentation is shared with his or her appraiser.
Appraisal Period refers to the fiscal year (April to March) in which the appraisal took place (NOT what materials were discussed). For reporting and review purposes, we need to be able to track whether or not a doctor has taken part in annual appraisal processes in particular appraisal years.
Doctors trained in appraisal skills (by NES) to conduct medical appraisals on behalf of the health boards in Scotland.
A complaint is a formal expression of dissatisfaction or grievance. In this declaration, the appraisee is asked to demonstrate their awareness of any complaints, their participation in any investigations and any actions taken in response to the complaint, and subsequent reflections.
Continuous Professional Development. A continuous learning process that complements formal undergraduate and postgraduate education.
Director of Medical Education. For Recognition of Trainer (RoT) purposes, DMEs are asked to review a trainer's Form 7 and make a recommendation regarding the RoT status.
Appraisal Form 3 is organised into the 4 Domains for Revalidation, where different supporting information is required according to the different requirements within.
For further information please see "Form 3 - Supporting Information".
Educational Organisations. For Recognition of Trainer (RoT) purposes, EOs are asked to review a trainer's Form 7 and confirm (or otherwise) the DME's recommendation. When a Form 7 has been signed off by the EO, the Trainer is considered recognised.
Background information such as contact details, GMC number, GMC registration, etc. The information provided will remain on SOAR for future appraisals.
Information about the work carried out by an appraisee, place of work, any sub-specialty or Out Of Hours commitments, or additional roles in or outwith the NHS, etc. The information provided will remain on SOAR for future appraisals.
Form 3 is where the Appraisee documents their supporting information, split into 4 Domains:
Domain 1: Knowledge, Skills & Performance
Domain 2: Safety and Quality
Domain 3: Communication, Partnership and Teamwork
Domain 4: Maintaining Trust
Form 4 is a summary description of the appraisal meeting, and is drafted by the appraiser, and reviewed/approved by the appraisee.
It is also used as proof of appraisal.
Form 5A is used in lieu of Form 4 if an appraisee has legitimate reasons for not being appraised in a particular fiscal year. For example, maternity leave, sabbatical, working abroad, etc.
Form 5B is used in lieu of Form 4 if, for whatever reason, the appraisee fails to engage with the appraisal process after the local team has exhausted their options.
Form 5C is used by appraisers or local admin teams to record any clinical governance issues reported to them about an appraisee.
Form 6A is used to gather appraisee feedback on how they felt the appraisal process went for them.
Form 6B is used to gather appraiser feedback on particular appraisals.
Form 7 is a read-only form, automatically generated on completion of Form 4. Consisting of a copy of the RoT content from Form 3 as submitted by the Appraisee, and the Appraiser comments around RoT on Form 4; and a sign off section for DMEs and EOs to make their recommendations and decisions.
General Medical Council - http://www.gmc-uk.org/
A team (or individual) in each health board that supports the administrative aspects of SOAR and appraisal (e.g. arrange SOAR logins, pair appraisers with appraisees, etc).
Multi-Source Feedback, also referred to as Colleagues Feedback, or 360 Feedback. All doctors are expected to seek such feedback from colleagues at least once in a 5 year revalidation cycle.
NHS Education for Scotland
Personal Development Plan. Learning needs identified by the doctor as part of the appraisal process.
Patient Survey Questionnaire, also referred to as Patient Feedback, or Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) - is organised locally by the health board so NES have no involvement with this. Contact your local admin team for further assistance.
Quality Improvement Activity. Review and evaluation of the quality of a doctor's work
RoT is the process for Trainers to be formalised recognised in the role, as set out by the GMC. This applies mostly to Trainers in Secondary Care; as GP Trainers are already approved by an existing processes. For those GPs who are not approved GP Trainers but are in one of the GMC Named-Trainer roles, they are asked to complete the RoT forms on SOAR.
For detailed information around RoT, please visit the Scottish Trainer Framework section on the Scotland Deanery website.
Information about RoT processes on SOAR is available on our RoT section.
The individual in each organisation with legal responsibility for the system of revalidation and who makes the revalidation recommendations to the GMC. They are the Executive Medical Directors of NHS health boards in Scotland, in most cases. For trainees, it is the medical director of NES.
Process of renewing a doctor's licence to practice. Comprises 5x annual appraisals, within which MSF and PSQ must be submitted as part of their supporting information for one of the appraisals (though not necessarily for the same appraisal).
Significant Event Analysis. Review and evaluation of a significant event.
An event which may be unintended or unexpected, but may also reflect a planned approach to a clinical or organisational issue. The majority of SEAs do focus on events which could or did have a less positive outcome, but the approach can equally be used to analyse and reflect on examples of high quality care or organisational development.
Scottish Online Appraisal Resource
WASP Software is the current MSF service provider on SOAR.
This page was last updated on: 21/03/2022
