Feedback

Patient feedback survey
"At least once in each revalidation cycle you must collect, reflect on and discuss feedback from patients about their experience of you as their doctor.

If you do not have patients you should collect feedback from others to whom you provide medical services.

If you believe you can’t collect such feedback, then you must agree with your responsible officer that you do not need to.

Those asked to give you feedback must be chosen from across your whole scope of practice. [including any Out of Hours work]

You should use standard questionnaires that have been validated and are independently administered to maintain objectivity and anonymity.

You must agree any alternative approaches with your responsible officer.

You should not personally select those asked to give feedback about you, and you should make sure the method used for collecting feedback allows responses to be obtained from a representative sample.

You must reflect on what the feedback means for your current and future practice, and discuss it at your appraisal.

Your standard questionnaires should be independently administered (handed out and responses collected and collated) to reassure your patients that their feedback is anonymous."
GMC
You should repeat a survey within the same cycle should there be a significant change in scope of work, such that the old survey is no longer applicable OR if the first survey indicates that significant changes needed to be made to improve your performance in an area.
During the Appraisals 2020 approach, you do not need to reflect in writing.

You may reflect orally during the appraisal discussion.

Colleague feedback survey
"At least once in your revalidation cycle you must collect, reflect on, and discuss at your annual appraisal, feedback from your colleagues.

The colleagues who are asked to give feedback must be chosen from across your whole scope of practice, and must include people from a range of different roles who may not be doctors.

You must choose colleagues impartially and be able to explain to your appraiser, if asked, why you have chosen the colleagues who have given your feedback.

Wherever possible you should use standard questionnaires that have been validated and are independently administered to maintain objectivity and confidentiality.

You must agree any alternative approaches with your responsible officer.

​You must reflect on what the feedback means for your current and future practice."
GMC
You should repeat a survey within the same cycle should there be a significant change in scope of work, such that the old survey is no longer applicable OR if the first survey indicates that significant changes needed to be made to improve your performance in an area.
During the Appraisals 2020 approach, you do not need to reflect in writing.

You may reflect orally during the appraisal discussion.
Why should I nominate a trusted friend for my feedback?
Some survey providers ask you to nominate a trusted friend with whom to share and discuss the results of each survey.

Sometimes the results of a survey are distressing, especially the unattributed comments. 

If this happens to you, you can discuss the contents of the survey with someone you trust who can support you in understanding the results.

You should not nominate your appraiser as the trusted friend.
why are my results worse than the benchmarks?
Most approved survey providers will compare your results with national averages to help you judge how well you are doing in comparison with others.

Bear in mind the benchmarks are mean scores. By definition 50% of scores will be below and 50% will be above average!

It is known that patients who do not know their doctor (e.g. a locum or out-of-hours GP) will typically give lower scores than where there is an established on-going relationship.

Low scores should prompt an honest reflection and a discussion with your appraiser.
​What could you do to improve your scores?

If you carry out an action plan, consider repeating the survey to see if you have improved.
Who should I survey?
Since this is an NHS appraisal, surveys must be completed by using feedback from NHS patients and colleagues to be acceptable for revalidation.

​It is also a "whole practice" appraisal, so you should also include patients and colleagues from across your whole scope of work. If in doubt, please discuss with your appraiser.

If you don't have any NHS patients or colleagues, you may need to register with a non-NHS body for your appraisal. See "Designated body".

When should I do the surveys?
It is wise to complete the feedback surveys in year 3 or 4 of the revalidation cycle.

Each survey must be completed and discussed in the appraisal in good time for revalidation.