Feedback

For all doctors, the GMC requirement is:

At least once in each revalidation cycle you must reflect on feedback from patients, collected using a formal feedback exercise.

And

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

It's a good idea to collect patient and colleague feedback early in your revalidation cycle. That way you aren't rushed when collecting and reflecting on the feedback, and you have time to rectify any issues that may arise.

Some GP roles do not have enough patients or colleagues to meet the numbers required by the feedback tools used for collecting feedback for revalidation. Including representation from across the whole of your scope of practice in one survey can sometimes work and provide helpful feedback but some roles are so different that this may make the results hard to interpret. We recommend that feedback is sought across the whole of your scope of practice in ways appropriate to each context.

If you are in a role where it would be difficult to get the required feedback we recommend you discuss this with your appraiser and ensure your responsible officer has agreed that the feedback you are able to get across your scope of work is sufficient to make a revalidation recommendation.

The GMC provides the template on which many appropriate patient and colleague feedback tools are now based. There is no GMC requirement to use the GMC questionnaires. They are not suitable for all patient groups, or accessible to all. There may be better tools for your circumstances, such as a very specific scope of practice or a hard-to-reach group.

The GMC has guidance on patient feedback and colleague feedback. You do not need to use a specific tool, but you should choose one that is appropriate to your patient population. It should be accessible to as many different types of patient across your scope of practice as possible. You should include feedback from at least the minimum number of patients required by the tool you choose to use. Patients must understand that their responses will be anonymous.

For example, you should not collect the responses yourself in such a way that patients think you might be able to read them or choose only the best. One option is for them to be collected into a sealed box that is opened by someone else who passes them on to someone outside your own practice to collate. You may want to use a professional questionnaire company or service. The results should be externally collated into a report that gives you the feedback you need so that you can reflect on the results in preparation for your appraisal.

You will have many sources of patient and colleague feedback, both unsolicited and formally requested. The guidance the GMC has on developing, commissioning and administering patient and colleague questionnaires specifically applies to the solicited feedback which is required once in the five-year revalidation cycle. Other feedback does not have to meet this guidance. Some of the most compelling feedback is not anonymous.

The main solicited patient and colleague surveys from your clinical work, normally undertaken once every five years, should be GMC compliant. Other feedback does not need to be GMC compliant. You should make sure that any feedback included in the portfolio is appropriately anonymised, which will involve presenting data that is difficult to anonymise separately to your appraiser or redacting it if you wish to include it. The priority is to include your reflections on the feedback, any lessons you have learned and any changes you intend to make as a result, in your portfolio.

If you are in any doubt about the best way to collect and reflect on feedback, you should seek advice and support from your appraiser at an early stage.

There are many other sources of feedback from patients. We recommend that you reflect on any feedback you have had and your relationship with your patients during every appraisal. This is not about formally collecting additional feedback. This is about reflecting on feedback that is available about you.

Patients have told us that they expect you to reflect on all the sources of feedback that already exist. You should take the opportunity once a year at your appraisal to discuss your reflections on your relationship with your patients and any feedback that you have had during the year. This can be from:

• informal unsolicited comments or cards
• formal feedback from ‘Friends and Family’ or the national patient survey
• complaints or compliments.