From ARCP to appraisal
After GP training, the final ARCP and Outcome 6 lead towards CCT and entry to the GP Register. Once qualified, your ongoing review becomes an annual whole-practice medical appraisal, which supports GMC revalidation, normally on a five-year cycle. It is a supportive discussion about your work and development, not another AKT or SCA examination.
In England, your regional appraisal team should tell you your appraiser and appraisal month. Check your designated body and responsible officer yourself if the arrangements are unclear. There is no universal “X months after CCT” deadline: timing follows your final ARCP and regional arrangements. RCGP first appraisal guidance
Your preparation timeline
These are useful planning windows, not statutory deadlines. Your appraisal team’s dates take priority.
- 01After final ARCP and CCT
Get oriented
Keep your final post-CCT PDP. Check GP Register and performers-list status, designated body, responsible officer, local appraisal team and portfolio choice.
- 02Throughout the year
Capture useful learning
Record selected CPD, QIA, feedback, significant events and complaints across every role. Review your PDP as your work changes.
- 03One to two months beforehand
Prepare the discussion
Check your appraisal month and meeting, review gaps, confirm conflicts of interest, and organise a proportionate portfolio.
- 04About two weeks beforehand
Share your portfolio
RCGP recommends sharing at least two weeks ahead; follow your regional team's instructions and anonymise any case material.
- 05At and after the meeting
Agree the next plan
Discuss work and wellbeing, review the draft summary and PDP, correct inaccuracies, then sign off and retain copies.
What happens to FourteenFish after training?
In one newly qualified GP’s experience, after Outcome 6 and sign-off the account showed “Medical Appraisal Template — Professional appraisal for UK Doctors 2022 (updated 2024)”, while prior trainee entries remained accessible. The exact timing and view can vary by account.
FourteenFish says access to full training history, including ESR and ARCP documents, depends on active RCGP membership; without it, some learning logs, assessments and PDP entries remain under All entries. Download important documents while you can. FourteenFish help
What goes where?
An original schematic, not a reproduction of the FourteenFish interface. GP Navigator is independent of FourteenFish.
- 01
Scope of work
Every medical role, where you worked, changes to your job plan and learning across the whole scope of practice.
- 02
PDP preview
Bring forward your post-CCT PDP from the final educational supervisor review; review progress and sketch realistic next objectives.
- 03
Challenges, achievements and aspirations
What went well, what was difficult, support you need and where you hope to develop.
- 04
Personal and professional wellbeing
Consider how work affects you. Personal health discussion is optional; make the required professional health declaration truthfully.
- 05
Supporting information
Select meaningful CPD, quality improvement and feedback from all roles, with your own reflection on learning or change.
- 06
Significant events and complaints
Complete the declarations, including when there are none. Anonymise any discussion of incidents or patients.
- 07
Probity and professional declarations
Review conduct, appropriate indemnity, interests, restrictions and investigations as the form asks.
- 08
Arrangements and revalidation
Check your appraiser, designated body, responsible officer, appraisal details and GMC revalidation date.
FourteenFish also documents All entries, View your trainee information and Past Appraisals. The last of these can store older appraisals from another provider; its revalidation preparation view may require separate uploads. Portfolio features vary. Its help centre explains how to amend a submitted appraisal before final sign-off; a fully signed-off appraisal needs formal help to reopen. Revalidation preparation · Editing after submission
Organise your first appraisal
Your appraiser may be assigned months ahead. RCGP says the same appraiser will likely remain for two or three years, but local practice varies. Check for conflicts as soon as you are notified.
- Check your designated body, responsible officer, appraisal month and local portfolio instructions.
- Confirm the appraiser's details; tell the appraisal team about any potential conflict of interest.
- Contact your appraiser to arrange a private online or face-to-face meeting in your allocated month.
- Prepare information across all roles and share the anonymised portfolio ahead of the meeting.
- Discuss your work, learning, feedback, wellbeing and goals with the appraiser.
- Read the draft summary and PDP, correct inaccuracies, then complete both sign-offs and retain copies.
RCGP recommends sharing the portfolio at least two weeks before the meeting so your appraiser can prepare. The first appraisal summary is a draft: review and correct it before final sign-off. RCGP step-by-step guide
What to put in each section
Keep the portfolio proportionate. Your spoken reflection in the meeting counts as well as what you write beforehand.
Scope of work
List main GP employment, locum and out-of-hours shifts, teaching or supervising, extended roles, leadership and any private medical work requiring your licence. Include where you worked, relevant job plans, expected changes, and how you maintain competence in each role.
Personal development plan
Bring forward the post-CCT PDP discussed at your final educational supervisor review. Review progress and choose manageable objectives for the new year. Three to five is a supervisor’s practical suggestion, not a GMC numerical rule. Examples: improve an urgent-care handover, update a clinical topic, or develop supervised teaching skills.
Challenges and wellbeing
Note achievements, difficult parts of work, aspirations and support needs. You may choose how much personal health to discuss, while completing the professional health declaration truthfully. GP Navigator does not ask you to enter health details.
Supporting information
Bring selected CPD, quality improvement, significant events, patient feedback, colleague feedback, and compliments and complaints. Explain what you learned and any change to practice across the whole scope of work.
Events, complaints and declarations
Complete the relevant questions even when there was nothing to declare. Where there was an event or complaint, give an accurate, confidential account of your involvement and learning. Check probity, indemnity, professional interests, restrictions and investigations as requested.
Arrangements and revalidation
Check your appraiser, responsible officer, designated body, appraisal dates and GMC revalidation date. Your appraiser and local team can help if a field or previous record is unclear.
The RCGP portfolio guide and supporting-information guide explain the detail behind these sections.
What is actually required?
The GMC sets the revalidation framework; RCGP advice and employer training requirements add practical expectations. Check your responsible officer’s local instructions.
| Requirement | When needed | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| Medical appraisal | Normally annually | Engage with the appraisal arranged by your designated body; check your allocated month and local process. |
| CPD and reflection | Each appraisal year | Show relevant learning across your full scope. The GMC does not set a universal 50-credit annual target. |
| PDP review | At each appraisal | Review the previous plan, including the post-CCT plan at your first appraisal, and agree a new one. |
| Quality improvement | At least once per revalidation cycle under GMC guidance | Make it relevant to your work. RCGP recommends annual QIA evidence for the GP role and cycle-wide coverage of each role. |
| Significant events | Consider and declare each year | Declare whether you were named in relevant events; discuss and reflect on any that occurred. |
| Compliments and complaints | Review each year | Reflect on personally named feedback and complaints, including relevant learning; declare accurately if none. |
| Formal patient feedback | At least once per revalidation cycle | Use a suitable survey across your scope; one patient response is not a formal exercise. Discuss difficulties with your RO. |
| Formal colleague feedback | At least once per revalidation cycle | Collect an appropriate range of responses, not a single colleague comment. |
| Probity and health statements | At each appraisal | Complete the declarations truthfully, including indemnity, conflicts and any restrictions or investigations. |
| Statutory and mandatory training | According to role, employer and current standards | Keep employment requirements separate from GMC supporting information. RCGP Level 3 safeguarding includes annual updates; Oliver McGowan training is not a universal yearly certificate. |
The RCGP Level 3 safeguarding standard calls for annual updates and reflection, so a three-yearly certificate alone may not cover the expected learning. England’s Oliver McGowan code applies to registered providers and role-appropriate learning disability and autism training; it does not impose a universal annual Oliver McGowan certificate. RCGP safeguarding · DHSC code
See the GMC’s six supporting-information categories and the RCGP’s annual and cycle-wide summary. Formal feedback is a proper collection of responses, not one comment.
Build CPD from the work you already do
The GMC asks for learning relevant to your work and reflection on its effect. It does not prescribe a fixed annual 50-credit target.
Use normal clinical work
A guideline change, BNF or formulary update, significant case discussion, practice clinical meeting or teaching session can prompt useful CPD.
Use the resources you have
RCGP Learning, Essential Knowledge Updates/Challenges and One Day Essentials; NICE updates; journal reading; and BMJ Learning all offer routes to structured learning. Access may depend on membership or subscription.
Choose paid learning selectively
Red Whale courses, Pearls and podcasts, and some RCGP or BMJ resources have paid options. Check current access and whether your employer funds study or CPD before buying.
Connect learning to improvement
Audit, quality improvement, clinical governance, peer learning and PBSGL-style groups can link a learning need to a change in practice.
What prompted the learning? What did I learn? What changed or was reinforced? What will I do next?
Write your own account of your actual learning. Record time spent when useful, but avoid duplicate entries and large certificate dumps. Never put patient-identifiable information in reflections or private learning files. GMC CPD guidance
Keep records throughout the year
Capture learning as it happens → tidy notes weekly → review against your PDP monthly → prepare ahead of appraisal
This is a suggested workflow. FourteenFish offers app and email capture; another locally accepted appraisal portfolio, BMJ Portfolio, or a confidential private note or spreadsheet may also work as a CPD log. Keep the final appraisal in a toolkit accepted by your responsible officer or regional team. FourteenFish capture help
Keep brief notes about significant learning and its effect. Quality matters more than hundreds of entries. Review against your PDP rather than collecting material for its own sake.
Other appraisal platforms
England allows an electronic portfolio acceptable to the responsible officer. Check that before committing to a platform or paying. Prices and offers can change.
FourteenFish
Appraisal toolkit, learning capture and trainee-record continuity. Trial and First5 member arrangements are advertised; check eligibility and current price.
Provider detailsClarity / Agilio
GP appraisal toolkit with CPD learning options and subscription tiers.
Provider detailsGP Tools
Appraisal portfolio with patient and colleague surveys; check its current subscription and trial terms.
Provider detailsBMJ Portfolio
Free CPD-recording companion, including export and optional FourteenFish connection; it is not itself a substitute for an accepted appraisal toolkit.
Provider detailsProvider availability and advertised pricing checked 2026-10-08; no price is hard-coded here.
Common mistakes
- Leaving all evidence gathering until the week before the meeting.
- Listing salaried sessions but missing locum, urgent-care, teaching or private work.
- Losing track of the PDP from your final educational supervisor review.
- Treating 50 CPD credits, yearly formal surveys or a fixed number of logs as universal GMC rules.
- Leaving significant-event or complaint declarations unanswered when there were none.
- Uploading certificates without explaining what you learned or changed.
- Assuming employer training rules and GMC appraisal requirements are identical.
- Assuming your trainee information disappears after CCT or your submitted appraisal cannot be amended.
- Forgetting to check your designated body, responsible officer and GMC revalidation date.