Appraisal

Annual appraisal will be at the centre of the new system of revalidation for all doctors. It will be an annual opportunity for surgeons and their appraisers to review the supporting information  collected for revalidation.

To do this, a change is required to the way in which appraisal is done. Up to now appraisal has largely been a formative exercise focussing on progress and professional development. This will continue to be part of appraisal, but in the future some degree of assessment will need to be included. In order to develop appraisal for revalidation in England the Department of Health has created the NHS Revalidation Support Team to develop systems that can be implemented locally.

In order to be revalidated, all surgeons will need to have completed five annual appraisals. However, it is anticipated that appraisals will be a way to identify signs of poor performance at an early stage, or to recognise factors such as ill health or stress, which may lead to a reduced level of performance.