Your appraisal discussion

During the meeting, your appraiser will ask about any progress you have made towards your previous PDP aims. This is not a pass or fail discussion because the aims that you made as a registrar may have changed for many reasons, including the requirements of a new employer.

From a combination of ideas you had before the meeting and your discussion with your appraiser you should agree a PDP with SMART objectives: they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant to meet your needs and have a Time scale. Most GPs have between two and four goals to cover the whole scope of practice. Your appraiser will then either help you to craft your PDP or (probably after the meeting) formulate it for you based on the discussion.

Breaking goals into planned steps may make them more achievable and explicit about what success looks like and how it will impact on the care of your patients and the care, quality and safety delivered by you or the organisations where you work.

If you have an appraisal with an NHS England appraiser, generally, they will confirm that:

• An appraisal has taken place that reflects the whole of a doctor’s scope of work and addresses the principles and values set out in Good medical practice (2024).  
• Appropriate supporting information has been presented in accordance with the GMC’s Supporting information for appraisal and revalidation document and this reflects the nature and scope of the doctor’s work.
• A review that demonstrates appropriate progress against the previous personal development plan has taken place.
• An agreement has been reached with the doctor about a new personal development plan and any associated actions for the coming appraisal period.
• No information has been presented or discussed in the appraisal that raises a concern about the doctor’s fitness to practise.

If your appraiser is unable to confirm one, or more than one, statement, it simply draws something relevant to the attention of the RO. Any ‘disagree’ statements should be appropriately explained in the comments sections provided, to assist the RO in understanding the reasons for them.

You and your appraiser can both comment on the output statements made. For example, the appraiser may explain that they have disagreed with statement five if you presented an ongoing investigation into a serious complaint that had been discussed but was not yet resolved.

In all cases, you have the opportunity to comment, although you do not have to if you have nothing to add to the appraiser’s explanation.

We do not recommend uploading minutes from meetings attended by other identifiable staff or complaints identifying colleagues by name. Do not include any patient identifiable information.  Some items of supporting information, such as original complaint letters or compliment cards, which may be hand-written, are usually best kept in paper form and shared privately with your appraiser. They can then be referenced anonymously in your summary drafted by your appraiser, and agreed by you. Keep any information securely that you do not upload until after you receive notice from the GMC that you have been revalidated, in case of an unlikely request by your RO to view it.

Your appraisal portfolio is normally only available to you and your appraiser (or appraisal lead or lead appraiser) and responsible officer (or designated deputy). The GMC will not require or request any details of an appraisal when conducting a fitness to practise inquiry, although you may wish to share these with the GMC to show your engagement in the appraisal process. Your portfolio could be subject to a request to disclose by a court of law. Your verbal or written reflections can demonstrate how you identified and addressed a learning need revealed by discussing a significant event or complaint. Your appraiser should support you to demonstrate insight, learning from the incident and a change in practice that is proportionate and maintains confidentiality as far as possible.

We don't recommend that you upload complete complaint letters or replies. Instead, sign the declaration that you were named in a complaint: summarise it in non-identifiable ways; reflect on whether you acknowledged or apologised as appropriate; whether you or the practice applied your duty of candour; and whether the complaint is settled.

Your appraiser may seek more information and ask you to read a document at the meeting or screenshare it with them. This is for you to demonstrate that you've reflected on the complaint as feedback, learning and change if needed. Your appraiser is trained to be supportive and non-judgmental. You should come away from your appraisal discussion feeling you've had a valuable discussion with a kind peer rather than feeling worse.

Your appraiser will draft a summary of the discussion. You can expect them to give you a timescale in which they will return the draft summary (and PDP) for you to either comment on to make changes or approve, this should be by secure email. The whole summary and PDP should be agreed at the latest by twenty-eight days after the meeting.

When you receive your draft summary and PDP it's important that you read through them carefully and update any inaccuracies. Edit anything you would not want in your professional record, either directly through your appraisal toolkit or contacting your appraiser with suggested changes. You can expect your appraiser to agree to all or most of your changes. Only rarely they might specify when something needs to remain as originally written. Remember the first version they send you is a draft. It is common for you to edit it between you before it's signed-off, sometimes more than once.

Your appraisal is not complete until both you and your appraiser have signed off the summary and PDP. We'd recommend you then download your portfolio, appraisal summary, and PDP and save them separately, and securely, from your appraisal toolkit for your safe keeping.

Your PDP and appraisal summary are shared with your RO and their nominated deputies and, occasionally, your RO may examine some or all of your portfolios as evidence for revalidation recommendations. Once your appraisal has been completely signed off, your appraiser won't keep a copy of it themselves.