Appraisers page
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Documents for appraisers Appraisals 2020
Supporting appraisers to support doctors (NHS SW, October 2021) Guidance for appraisers (National Working Group, September 2020) Suggested prompts for appraisers (National Working Group, September 2020) Domains for discussion and reflection (Professor Layer, September 2020) Example summary (Lowri Kew, September 2020) Support for doctors (National Working Group, September 2020 Which video conference platform? Holding the space (J Docherty, October 2020) Ideas for the 2020 appraisal discussion (NHSE SW, October 2020) FAQs from appraisers (NHSE SW, October 2020) Update for appraisers (NHSE SW, 27th November 2020) Appraisals & revalidation newsletter number 2 (NHSE SW, February 2021) Appraisals & revalidation newsletter number 3 (NHSW SW, April 2021)
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Information on a doctor or a practice
Find an inspection report (CQC)
GP Patient survey (NHS England)
Look up GMC number (GMC)
Patient reviews (NHS Choices)
Performers list checker (NHS England)
GP Patient survey (NHS England)
Look up GMC number (GMC)
Patient reviews (NHS Choices)
Performers list checker (NHS England)
indemnity insurance for appraisers
The Deputy Medical Director of NHS England said,
"Appraisers who are doctors also need to be members of a suitable medical defence organisation, as these bodies provide the protection needed should their licence be called into question through appraisal work.
The MDU, MPS and MDDUS have confirmed that they offer indemnity at no extra cost to appraisers when a doctor’s appraisal work is a relatively minor component of their overall professional practice.
While the latter point is helpful, in reality, given the cover extended by NHS England, it is now very unlikely that an appraiser will need to use indemnity cover from their medical defence organisation."
"Appraisers who are doctors also need to be members of a suitable medical defence organisation, as these bodies provide the protection needed should their licence be called into question through appraisal work.
The MDU, MPS and MDDUS have confirmed that they offer indemnity at no extra cost to appraisers when a doctor’s appraisal work is a relatively minor component of their overall professional practice.
While the latter point is helpful, in reality, given the cover extended by NHS England, it is now very unlikely that an appraiser will need to use indemnity cover from their medical defence organisation."
Indemnity for NHS England appraisers (ROAN 31, June 2019)
The appraiser contract (2019) states in section 11.4,
"NHS England shall indemnify the Consultant against any personal civil liability that the Consultant may owe arising out of or in connection with any loss, damage or injury covered by NHS England's membership of the NHS Litigation Authority Third Party Liability Scheme. The Consultant shall inform NHS England promptly in relation to any potential liability. This indemnity is limited to:
- acts or omissions on the part of the Consultant in connection with the performance of the Services that are a consequence of the Consultant acting on behalf of NHS England;
- acts or omissions on the part of the Consultant that are not a consequence of the Consultant acting recklessly; and
- the amount received by NHS England as a result of making a claim in respect of the relevant liability pursuant to the NHS England's membership of the NHS Litigation Authority's Third Party Liability Scheme."
Appraiser pay and superannuation
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Change of address? Notify the administration team or your payments may be delayed! |
NHS pensions website includes:
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Appraiser payment and superannuation algorithm 2021-2022 (NHSE, April 2021)
Total Reward Statement
If a GP appraiser is unable to view their TRS they should contact NHS Pensions for an up-to-date statement over the phone – via tel: 0333 330 1346.
If your summary is not correct, please raise a query with PCSE through the online form.
More information can be found at https://pcse.england.nhs.uk/services/gp-pensions/.
Training for appraisers in the South West
Each Appraiser should attended at least one ‘regional’ network meeting during the year.
Please attend at least three Appraiser meetings, consisting of both regional and locality meetings (with your Senior Appraiser).
Please attend at least three Appraiser meetings, consisting of both regional and locality meetings (with your Senior Appraiser).
Regional Appraiser support meetings (via Teams)
- Friday 6 May 2022 10:00-16:00
- Tuesday 31 May 2022 10:00-16:00
- Wednesday 13 July 2022 10:00-16:00
- Wednesday 20 July 2022 10:00-16:00
The content for the above sessions will be replicated across the four dates.
Drop in Sessions. No need to pre-book. Feel free to join on the day
- Monday 28th March 18:30 - 19:30
- Wednesday 15th June 08:30 - 09:30
- Friday 30th September 18:30 - 19:30
- Wednesday 30th November = 14:00 - 15:00
Training videos, slides, handouts and websites for appraisers can be found on the Training Materials page.
Thinking Pitstops
Thinking Pitstops is a peer-to-peer support designed to help people decompress and think well under pressure in a brief period of time (15 min).
Over 1,000 health and social care professionals have trained as Thinking Pitstop facilitators during the pandemic and have given highly encouraging feedback about the impact this brief intervention has on wellbeing, mental health, and performance - particularly during times of high pressure.
We welcome you to enrol yourself on the next Thinking Pitstops Zoom training session:
- Thursday 27th January 12.30pm to 4.30pm Booking form
- Wednesday 9th February 12.30pm to 4.30pm Booking form
- Saturday 5th March 9.30am to 1.30pm Booking form
- Tuesday 29th March 9.30am to 1.30pm Booking form
Flyer
somccg.icsworkforceteam@nhs.net
somccg.icsworkforceteam@nhs.net
Revalidation management system (RMS)
Log on to the Revalidation Management System (NHS England)
Read the RMS user guide (W & S Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Unit, January 2014) and the Simple guide to RMS (NHSE SW, June 2021). A national guide is expected to be published in 2021.
How to view last year's documents in RMS (Simon Barton, 2019)
Guide to setting the number of appraisal allocations (NHSE SW, September 2021)
The “Significant Events" section on RMS should generally be ticked “Yes” i.e. a discussion about whether there has been a significant event has taken place and then the notes section should be completed e.g. “No significant event in this year” (or a description of the significant event if there has indeed been one).
Read the RMS user guide (W & S Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Unit, January 2014) and the Simple guide to RMS (NHSE SW, June 2021). A national guide is expected to be published in 2021.
How to view last year's documents in RMS (Simon Barton, 2019)
Guide to setting the number of appraisal allocations (NHSE SW, September 2021)
The “Significant Events" section on RMS should generally be ticked “Yes” i.e. a discussion about whether there has been a significant event has taken place and then the notes section should be completed e.g. “No significant event in this year” (or a description of the significant event if there has indeed been one).
Surveys
If the patient and colleague feedback surveys and reflections are embedded within the current appraisal summary, please ensure that they are easily accessible to view.
There have been some problems opening surveys in RMS so please check they can be opened and read after you have uploaded them.
If they are not included in the appraisal document, please upload them directly onto RMS to accompany the post appraisal summary.
Please also write a note in the output summary on RMS outlining:
This is a great help to the admin team when undertaking the revalidation checks.
There have been some problems opening surveys in RMS so please check they can be opened and read after you have uploaded them.
If they are not included in the appraisal document, please upload them directly onto RMS to accompany the post appraisal summary.
Please also write a note in the output summary on RMS outlining:
- the type of survey (e.g. 14Fish),
- number of responses
- date of the surveys
- the year of the cycle in which they were completed.
This is a great help to the admin team when undertaking the revalidation checks.
Revalidation ready
Please write ‘appears Revalidation Ready’ in the appraisal output summary ‘Notes’ box
next to the MAG 5 statement. This is a great help to the Team when doing the prerevalidation
checks. (NHSE SW, March 2019)
Uploading documents
To limit the risk of damaging executable files being uploaded to RMS, only these file types may be uploaded:
- Word DOC/DOCM/DOCX
- Excel XLS/XLSM/XLSX
- JPEG
- TXT
- PNG
- BMP
- GIF
If you encounter problems uploading a MAG form, please notify your administration team.
Quality improvement for appraisers
Guidance on how appraisers should be recruited, trained and assessed was revised in 2014 as a main document and as appendices.
Appraiser Handbook (University of East Anglia, 2015)
What makes a good PDP? (NHSE SSW, March 2014)
Guidance For Appraisers on Completion of Appraisal Output Statements (March 2013)
PROGRESS QA tool v2 (August 2015)
Quality assurance of appraisal: guidance notes
(NHS England, 29 April 2016)
Info Sheet 27: Keeping appraisal submissions proportionate (ROAN, 2019)
Example appraisal summary (NHSE SW, August 2020)
Appraiser Handbook (University of East Anglia, 2015)
What makes a good PDP? (NHSE SSW, March 2014)
Guidance For Appraisers on Completion of Appraisal Output Statements (March 2013)
PROGRESS QA tool v2 (August 2015)
Quality assurance of appraisal: guidance notes
(NHS England, 29 April 2016)
Info Sheet 27: Keeping appraisal submissions proportionate (ROAN, 2019)
Example appraisal summary (NHSE SW, August 2020)
Useful free software
It is the doctor's responsibility to submit documents to the appraiser in an electronic format which he/she can open.
Appraisers may find the following FREE tools useful for opening files.
Appraisers may find the following FREE tools useful for opening files.
The NHS has purchased licenses for all staff to access the Microsoft Office 365 suite of programmes, including:
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Drive, Teams, OneNote, SharePoint, Delve, Lists, Project and Stream.
Just go to https://www.office.com/ and sign in using the same details you use to sign in to your nhs.net email account.
ROAN Info Sheet 29: NHS.net email addresses for NHS England appraisers
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Drive, Teams, OneNote, SharePoint, Delve, Lists, Project and Stream.
Just go to https://www.office.com/ and sign in using the same details you use to sign in to your nhs.net email account.
ROAN Info Sheet 29: NHS.net email addresses for NHS England appraisers
File extensions |
Software |
.pdf |
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.doc, .docx, .txt |
Microsoft Word (see above) |
.xls, .xlxs, .csv |
Microsoft Excel (see above) |
.ppt, .pptx |
Microsoft PowerPoint (see above) |
.mpp |
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.PAGES |
Step 1 - Save the file to your desktop Step 2 - Right Click the file -> select 'Rename' Step 3 - Replace ".PAGES" with ".zip" at end of the file and hit enter Step 4 - Open zipped folder (double click) and view contents |
.webarchive |
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Almost everything else including .jpg, .jpeg |
Miscellaneous
Appraisal & Revalidation Newsletter (NHSE SW, February 2019)
Appraisal and Revalidation Newsletter (NHSE SW, April 2019)
Appraisal and Revalidation Bulletin (NHSE SW, April 2019)
Complaints and Investigations – Soft Skills for Doctors and Investigators to Bear in Mind (Dr Andrew Tressider, January 2021)
Cause for concern
If issues arise that indicate that the performer may be impaired, NHS England can use its powers to prevent a performer from working in order to protect patients from harm.
The Framework for managing performer concerns (NHSE, 2018) sets out:
The Medical Director has overarching responsibility for the operation of this framework.
Every case is dealt with according to individual circumstances.
The Framework for managing performer concerns (NHSE, 2018) sets out:
- the process for considering applications and decision making for inclusion, inclusion with conditions and refusals to be undertaken by NHS England’s local offices;
- the process by which teams identify, manage and support primary care performers where concerns arise; and
- the application of NHS England’s powers to manage suspension, imposition of conditions and removal from the performers lists.
The Medical Director has overarching responsibility for the operation of this framework.
Every case is dealt with according to individual circumstances.
If the concern raises serious and immediate patient safety issues, immediate action should be taken to safeguard patients and the performer.
If you have a cause for concern about a GP speak to the Responsible Officer for your region, or his/her nominated deputy.
Data protection obligations
The Consultant contract 2019 states explicitly that NHS England is the data controller and appraisers are data processors under the Data Protection Act 2018.
This means we do NOT have to pay a data protection fee to the Information Commissioner but we do have certain obligations.
This means we do NOT have to pay a data protection fee to the Information Commissioner but we do have certain obligations.
Data security
The Consultant contract requires us to encrypt personal data (that includes any document where a living person can be identified e.g. a MAG form).
VeraCrypt is free software which can be used to encrypt a folder in which you can store all appraisal documents. Set up can be a bit confusing with talk of "volumes" and "containers" but just ignore the jargon and use all the default settings.
How to install and use VeraCrypt
We must only use an nhs.net account to email personal data.
Info Sheet 29: NHS.net email addresses for NHS England appraisers (ROAN, 2019)
We must delete data when we no longer need it.
"The Consultant shall not retain any Personal Data longer than is necessary to perform the Services under this Agreement.
At the written direction of NHS England, the Consultant shall delete or return Personal Data (and any copies of it) to NHS England on termination or expiry of the Agreement."
(Consultant contract Appendix to Schedule 2).
Files which are "deleted" or sent to the recycle bin can be recovered using dedicated software. To avoid this possibility use a file shredder which overwrites the file data. Some antivirus programmes have a file shredder incorporated within them. Or choose a dedicated free programme to do the job.
How long is "no longer than necessary"?
It would be reasonable to keep it until we receive confirmation that the appraisal documents have been received by NHS England on completion of the appraisal.
All copies of the data must be deleted including any emails which have appraisal documents attached.
In any case we must delete all personal data at the end of the "term", i.e. at the end of the year's contract.
where to appraise?
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In NHSE SW region, and in other regions all appraisals are currently being conducted on-line using video conferencing software. |
The ideal place to conduct an appraisal is in a professional setting e.g. the appraisee's consulting room, your consulting room or a meeting room in a practice.
If none of these is available contact your appraisals team for suggestions.
Venues available in South West England.
If none of these is available contact your appraisals team for suggestions.
Venues available in South West England.
"Appraisals in your home can be approved, as long as you have public liability insurance in place to cover both yourself and your appraisee.
Please also be aware of the need to remain professional, to conduct the appraisal in a space where you will not be interrupted or overheard, and to be aware of the power dynamic so that the appraisee feels comfortable having their appraisal in your home environment."
Please also be aware of the need to remain professional, to conduct the appraisal in a space where you will not be interrupted or overheard, and to be aware of the power dynamic so that the appraisee feels comfortable having their appraisal in your home environment."
Appraisal and Revalidation Newsletter (NHSE SW, September 2019)