Page 8 - IDF Journal 2023

8
IDF News – Spring 2023
Responsible Officer and Appraisal Committee’s Report
Dr Alexandra Harkins
IDF Responsible Officer
It has been another very busy year for the IDF Revalidation Team. Connected membership to the IDF continues to grow steadily. Connected members have the IDF as their designated body. In 2020 there were around 574 connected members and at the time of writing this report there are now around 645 connected members. Connected membership remains very broad with a wide variety
of scopes of work. The IDF continues to carry out some appraisals for non-connected members who are connected to other designated bodies and for doctors going through the GMC annual return process. The remote appraisal policy remains in place and allows appraisals to take place by video, unless face to face is mandated
by the RO. However it is strongly encouraged that
the appraiser and appraisee meeting face to face at least once in the three year pairing, ideally the first year if feasible to do so.
I remain hugely grateful for the support I am given by the Revalidation Team. We strive to be compassionate, supportive and fair. The team currently includes Emily Stephens (Revalidation Director), who is on maternity leave now, Olivia Reid (Revalidation Director during Emily’s maternity leave), Dominika Mazur (Revalidation Manager), Louise Wade (Revalidation Administrator) and Sara Uddin (Revalidation Administrator).
I continue to be impressed by their dedication and commitment to our members and was encouraged to hear at the appraiser 1 to 1 meetings I had about how well supported the IDF appraisers feel by the IDF Revalidation Team. As Responsible Officer, I am pleased to speak with members as required either by phone, remotely, or face to face, and the Revalidation Team are happy to be contacted with any queries.
IDF Medical Appraisals continue to
build on the positives of IDF Medical Appraisal 2020 while recognising the need for me, as the IDF RO, to have sufficient assurance of connected members when making revalidation recommendations. Although the GMC’s guidance on supporting information for appraisal and revalidation (November 2020) has not changed, IDF Medical Appraisals continue to be supportive
and flexible to appraisees according to individual circumstances, emphasise quality of supporting information rather than quantity, encourage appraisees to be proportionate in their preparation, and recognise the importance of appraisees maintaining their health and well-being in order to be able to offer high quality and safe care. The appraisals also continue to consider the impact of events since the last appraisal on the appraisee’s personal and professional development. In the last year, the IDF has developed guidance
to support appraisees and this includes preparing for retirement. I delivered two webinars to support appraisees: ‘Audit - a beginner’s guide’ and ‘How to prepare for your IDF appraisal?’ The IDF has also developed a structured reflective template for appraisers about their appraiser role.
Following the updated Medical Appraisal Guide, the IDF has updated
its bespoke online appraisal form to be more streamlined, avoid unnecessary duplication, and improve appraisee
and appraiser user experience. The
IDF launched v5 of the appraisal form
in September 2022. The form now includes an optional wellbeing section for appraisees as we recognise the importance of health and wellbeing for doctors providing high quality and safe care. The PDF component of the form has been upgraded to make this more user friendly. Changes also include the removal of section 16 which has instead been incorporated throughout the form, the addition of some confirmatory boxes at the end for appraisers to complete regarding the format of the appraisal and whether an I.D. check has been undertaken, and the inclusion of some additional declarations.
Declaration of, and reflection upon, complaints is an important part of all appraisals. The IDF is aware of the need for independent doctors to be supported in their handling of Stage 1 reviews of complaints i.e. those complaints being handled at local level. In October 2022, the IDF launched the IDF complaints support service led by me as the IDF
RO which aims to support members in the handling of Stage 1 complaints. This serves to guide members through the IDF complaints Stage 1 procedure but does not include reviewing the Stage 1 documentation, or the Stage 1 response, as these remain the responsibility of
the doctor concerned. The IDF Stage 1 Complaint Support service can be contacted at info@idf.co.uk.
The IDF Appraisal system continues
to be robust with both internal and external quality assurance. Internal quality assurance includes a one and a half day training and selection of new appraisers, annual training for established appraisers, appraisee feedback, peer review of appraisal summaries, as
well as the RO review of all completed appraisals. In early 2022, the revalidation team reviewed and updated the internal peer review quality assurance tool. The revised version is now more streamlined, with narrower bands for scoring. The tool has been positively received by