Frequently Asked Questions

Currently, the GMC requires all doctors to complete 360 feedback at least once during the revalidation cycle. (ie at least once every five years). 360 feedback consists of feedback from a mixture of medical and non-medical colleagues on a question covering the four domains of Good Medical Practice. Where relevant – ie if you have a patient caseload the GMC also requires you to seek feedback from patients, their carers or family as appropriate.

There are two parts to your 360 feedback a colleague questionnaire and where appropriate a patient survey. the colleague questionnaire consists of 40 scored questions and 2 free text questions. It takes around 10 minutes for your respondents to complete. See a sample

The patient questionnaire is paper-based and consists of 12 scored questions and space for free text comments. This only takes a few minutes to complete. See a sample

There are two ways to complete your 360 feedback, either self-managed through our online platform or by using our administered service, both can be purchased online and started immediately.

The self-managed system gives you a control panel where you can complete your self-assessment, add respondents, check the progress of 360, send reminders if needed and download your feedback report once completed. This system maintains all of the independent collation and monitoring required by the GMC while giving you control over the actual management of your 360.

The administered service does the same as the above without the legwork from you. You complete your self-assessment, give us a list of people you want feedback from, we do the setup and chasing and send you your report once completed.

In both cases, you will receive an email from Health Service 360 inviting you to activate your 360 by creating a username and password. Once you have done this you can complete your self-assessment online and check the progress of your 360 whenever you want by logging into the Health Service 360 system through the website.

The GMC has not identified a definitive number of respondents, it has left this to the discretion of your organisation and Responsible Officer. However, on its own questionnaire outline, the GMC suggests 20 colleagues (10 medical and 10 non-medical) and asking 45 patients and accepting a minimum of 34 patients. We have also suggested these numbers in our set up guidance, but we also realise this is not practical for many doctors if they are not working closely with that number of colleagues. We, therefore, suggest a minimum of 12 colleagues at least 4 of whom should be non-medical.

You will be asked to categorise your respondents as other doctors, (senior, peer or junior) and clinical, (nurses, physics etc) or non-clinical colleagues (admin & support staff). You do not need to choose people from every group, but you do need to put more than one respondent into any group you do choose, (other than your senior). This is to protect the anonymity of those giving you feedback.

You need to choose people who know you well enough to answer the range of questions. These people should have experience of working with you and be able to comment on what it is like to work with you as well as your abilities.

You should choose people who’s opinions you value, not just those who will make positive comments about you. In terms of development, it is worth asking people you have differing working relationships with, this will help you to understand the impact you have on people.

The GMC states that 360 feedback “is intended to encourage professional development in your practice as a doctor.” This means that both positive and negative feedback is valuable, the GMC specifically says that 360 feedback is not a judgemental tool. they give 3 uses for 360 feedback

“You should use the feedback to reflect on your practice, and in particular to
•  highlight areas of good performance
•  identify areas that may require further development, and
•  inform choices for continuing professional development”      GMC 2013

The Health Service 360 system is set up to comply with GMC criteria. This means that feedback provided by respondents will be anonymous unless they identify themselves through free text comments. To maintain this anonymity you are requested to choose at least two people from any responder group you have used (other than senior).

The exception to this is any concerns raised over patients’ safety as this takes precedence over anonymity. Should concern be raised, your Responsible Officer can request that the respondent is identified so further evaluation can be conducted.

Unless otherwise agreed with your Trust, you report will be sent to you to discuss with your appraiser. Your report is not discussed with or distributed to anyone else and remains confidential. The only exception to this would be any request from your Responsible officer regarding patient safety.

On average it takes around four weeks to complete colleague feedback, this takes into account respondents workload and people being on leave. The process can be accelerated by asking all respondents first and making sure they know the questionnaire will come via an email from Health Service 360.

Your patient questionnaire can be completed simultaneously, information from patients should be collected and posted to Health Service 360 where it will be collated and included in your feedback report.

Your report will be emailed to you within 3 working days once we have all of the information.