Aims ‘Contemporary Appraisal’, a pilot approach to appraisal undertaken by NHS England Central Midlands aimed to reduce the burden of appraisal on General Practitioners (GPs); distilling and disseminating General Medical Council (GMC) Guidelines in an easy to understand form. Emphasising the Royal College of GPs intent to focus on quality rather than quantity, we aimed for a less onerous but equally effective route to revalidation whilst maintaining patient safety.

Method The approach, piloted in Milton Keynes between May and July 2017, was presented in both written and verbal form to stakeholders, including lay colleagues. Evaluation reviewed qualitative aspects of feedback from stakeholders and appraisal summaries, and quantitative aspects of appraisal summaries.

Results The resulting appraisal summaries were of a good quality, most submitted in the non-pilot format. The attempt to reduce the workload required to prepare for appraisal was appreciated by GPs and there was appreciation that the appraisal outcomes focussed more on their needs. It was evident messages need to be consistent and clear to be understood, and change takes time.

Conclusions The pilot focussed appraisal leadership on the importance of concurrently reviewing inputs (supporting information submitted by GPs) and outputs (appraisal discussion and resulting Personal Development Plan). It was clear ascertaining and focusing on what is important to the appraisee should be the aspiration resulting in a PDP that is more likely to genuinely improve outcomes for doctors and patients. We propose to use the learning from this pilot as the basis for ‘Appraisal Information’, a region wide approach (in line with the recent GMC response to the Pearson report) remaining clear on the GMC requirements for appraisal, clear on the expectation of quality over quantity, and clear with appraisers on ‘making appraisal useful’- emphasising ‘adding value’within the appraisal process.