Appraisals – Agenda for Change

This page has been designed to answer as many common questions about appraisal as possible. If you would like some more support, please contact HRapprsisals@bedfordhospital.nhs.uk who will be able to arrange a meeting with one of our cross site team.​

The Trust has adopted a values based appraisal. Values-led organisations have more engaged staff, better teamwork and better patient experience. And this results in safer care with better outcomes for patients.

Values should be ‘lived’ – in everyday work, not just ‘laminated’ – in posters on the wall. One way of doing this is to ensure values are included in regular and annual development discussions. More than 750 NHS leaders, managers, clinicians and frontline staff were involved in co-creating this new approach to values-based reviews.​

In this work they told us:

  • ​People do their best work: ​

  • when they are involved in setting their goals, objectives and development pathway, and supported to deliver them

  • when they can use their strengths and learn from successes, as well as improving and learning when things didn’t go well

  • Great performance needs regular conversations, as well as an annual review

  • So that managers get to know their people, and so employees always know how they are doing: what they are doing well, as well as where they can improve

(A Kind Life, 2022)

Frequently asked questions

“Performance reviews, also called appraisals, form part of a holistic approach to managing performance. The value of annual reviews has increasingly been challenged in recent years in favour of more regular conversations, but even so, performance appraisal remains a crucial aspect of the performance management cycle.” – CIPD, 2022

An appraisal conversation offers an opportunity for both parties to discuss:

  • Performance
  • Motivation
  • Wellbeing
  • Objectives
  • Professional development
  • Career progression
  • Personal goals
  • Support required

It also provides both time and space to explore any issues and challenges on either side. 

An appraisal is one of a range of tools that help to develop and maintain positive and successful relationships between individuals and managers.

Each staff member should have an annual appraisal.

Line managers or those staff who have appraisal reviews delegated to them are responsible for ensuring that all staff members in their area of responsibility have an annual appraisal. Individual Development Goals then need to be included in the annual Training Needs Analysis.

Managers should track when each staff members appraisal is due and schedule a meeting in good time.

Every member of staff must prepare for their appraisal including completing the relevant sections in advance for their appraiser to review before the meeting. Ideally, the paperwork should be submitted to the appraiser one week in advance to allow time for preparations.

The staff member should also be aware of when their appraisal is due and ensure that they liaise with the line manager to schedule an annual review.

You can view the appraisal due date on the monthly training and appraisal dashboard that is sent via email from the compliance report team.

Staff can review their appraisal date on their ESR portal.

The Trust has invested in a range of training activities accessible in a variety of ways for all staff groups.

View the course catalogue for all internal training offers.

If there are specific courses/ training that your staff member requires you can submit a request for funding. Please click here for further information on applying for course funding.

The Trust offers a number of health and wellbeing support services for our staff. You can find further information on Trust initiatives on the Staff Health and Wellbeing Support Services intranet page – please note, you must be connected to the Trust network to view the intranet page.

You can also contact Occupational Health, Peer Listeners and Freedom to Speak up guardian for further support.

The appraisal and pay step review meeting are 2 different meetings. For some staff the appraisal date and pay step review date may fall at the same time of the year but they should be separate meetings.

The appraisal is designed to review performance, reflect on the previous year and set goals for the next year.

The pay step progression review is to review if the staff member is eligible for pay step progression based on a set of national criteria that the staff member has to meet. You can view further information on the pay step review meeting and all the relevant documentation in the pay progression section of this website.

You can find the appraisal documentation on the New Appraisal Policy, Paperwork and Guidance intranet page – please note, you must be connected to the Trust network to view the intranet page.

You can find the supporting documentation on the New Appraisal Policy, Paperwork and Guidance intranet page with some hints and tips for successful appraisal conversations – please note, you must be connected to the Trust network to view the intranet page.

There is classroom, virtual and e-learning available. 

You can find face to face and live virtual training dates on the HR Fundamentals page.

You can search for the e-learning module on ESR by entering “418 Bedfordshire Hospital NHS FT – Appraise with Values E-Learning”.