Medical Revalidation User Guide
Medical Revalidation User Guide
2. Accessing SARD for the first time
3.1 My Dashboard drop-down list
3.3 Where would you like to go today?
4. How SARD works – the Portfolio and Appraisal system
4.2 Finding your way around the Portfolio
4.3 Uploading evidence to your Portfolio
4.4 Using the same file multiple times
5.1 Finding your way around the Appraisal
5.3 How do I know if my Appraisal has been submitted?
6.1 Downloading a copy of my completed Appraisal
7. Starting your next Appraisal
1. Requesting a SARD account
Access to the website is by invitation only, and accounts are set up by the administrator within your organisation. If you think that you should have access to SARD, please contact one of your organisation’s administrators and request an invitation. If you are unsure whom to contact, please get in touch with us on support@sardjv.co.uk, giving the name of the organisation you work for so we can provide you with the best email address to contact.
2. Accessing SARD for the first time
Once your account has been set up, you will receive an invitation email, which will come from no-reply@sardjv.co.uk. Click on the Accept Invitation link within the email to set your own password and get started. Your username is the email address that the original invitation was sent to.
Once you have set your password, you will see a welcome screen that will prompt you for information. The Portfolio of supporting evidence is based upon your medical roles. You will be asked which medical roles are applicable, e.g., whether you are a clinical supervisor, inpatient doctor, community doctor, psychiatrist, anaesthetist, etc. You should select ALL roles that apply to you.
You may also be asked to set your appraiser. If you do not know who your appraiser should be, you can leave this set to the default or blank and change it later. Once you have provided the required information, tick the confirmation box and click the Save and continue button.
Now that you have completed your initial setup, you will be able to access SARD using your registered email address and password on the main sign in page.
Can my PA edit my Appraisal for me?
3. Navigating your Dashboard
The Dashboard is the ‘hub’ of your SARD account. It is the first page you will see when you log in, from which you can get an overview of your progress, view any notifications you may have, and access all the various products.
3.1 My Dashboard drop-down list
My Dashboard is located in the top-left corner. Clicking on it will expand the drop-list with all the products and features you have access to (including other SARD products such as MSF/360, Job Plan, eLeave). You will also find shortcuts there to your Portfolio, Appraisal and the eDocuments folder:
3.2 Account drop-down list
If you click on your name in the top-right corner, it will unveil a drop-down list with shortcuts to your Dashboard, editing your details and the option to log out, among other things. Just like My Dashboard, this drop-down list is a permanent fixture – both remain visible in respective top corners throughout the system:
3.3 Where would you like to go today?
The centre of your Dashboard displays icons for each product and feature you have access to. Clicking on an icon will open a product or feature:
3.4 Overview
Overview allows to see at a glance the due dates for your next medical revalidation, Appraisal, proposed Appraisal meeting date, etc. Each due date has an i for information icon next to it for more details:
Please note this image is an example – your actual Dashboard appearance and available products will vary depending on your organisation and role.
The dates under Overview are colour-coded: green means that everything is in place and that you are fully compliant, orange denotes that the due date is approaching, whereas red indicates that something is outstanding and requires your specific action. This RAG (Red/Amber/Green) coding is also used for the products below Overview. For example, should anything be amiss in your current Portfolio, it will be highlighted red in the lower part of your Dashboard.
3.5 Appraisal
This is where you will find your current Portfolio and Appraisal, all your previous Appraisals including the ones not done on SARD, and key information such as your appraiser’s name:
3.6 My eDocuments
This is where you will be able to upload various documents such as certificates, reports and other evidence for your Appraisal:
To upload a document, please click View My eDocuments, then + New eDoc, followed by Save. If you would like to upload many files at once, please see this page.
3.7 Notifications
Here you can see any recent notifications, such as whether your appraiser has looked at your Appraisal after you have submitted it, or if your administrator has uploaded some files for you. To expand the list of notifications further, please click See All Notifications:
3.8 My Details
Clicking on this icon will show basic details of your SARD profile such as allocated Appraisal month, registered email address, organisational structure and your medical roles. Your profile can be updated at any time by clicking on Edit My Details:
You can even add your profile picture here, if you wish. Once done editing your profile, please click Save.
3.9 Help and Support
This is where you can find your organisation’s Support Documents such as guidances and templates for various forms. You will also find further resources like Helpdesk, video and user guides here. Most importantly, under Help & Support there are contact details for the administrators at your trust/organisation, should you need to get in touch with them:
3.10 Starting a new Appraisal
If you have no Appraisal open, you can start a new one by clicking on the + New Appraisal button on your Dashboard. This will prompt you to enter the date on which the Appraisal meeting is due to take place. If you do not know the exact date, just give an estimate. The proposed meeting date can be changed later in Section 3 (Personal Details) of your Appraisal. Once done stating the proposed Appraisal meeting date, you will be redirected back to your Dashboard, where you can start filling out your Portfolio and subsequently your Appraisal at any time by clicking on either under the Current Portfolio & Appraisal section.
I need to change Appraisal meeting date
I need to change my Appraisal due date
4. How SARD works – the Portfolio and Appraisal system
The Appraisal consists of two parts: the Portfolio and the Appraisal form. Once you have started your Appraisal, you will have access to both the Portfolio which is used to gather evidence throughout the year, and the Appraisal form which is based on the GMC’s MAG (Medical Appraisal Guidance) form. We would recommend that the Portfolio is worked on first, before starting work on the Appraisal. This is because the information (evidence) from the Portfolio section is carried over to the Appraisal, but this does not occur in the inverse.
4.1 The Portfolio
The Portfolio is where you can store evidence and reflect upon it. Think of it as a filing cabinet where you can upload documents as you get them across the year, rather than having to rush everything at once at Appraisal time. You can even use it to gather evidence over a number of years, keeping an ongoing store alongside your Appraisal.
The Portfolio can be opened directly from your Dashboard, or from within the Appraisal by clicking on the Portfolio tab/progress bar on the left.
4.2 Finding your way around the Portfolio
When you navigate to the Portfolio, you will see a list of sections on the left-hand side of the page. Initially these will be all marked red (Not Started). As you work your way through the Portfolio, you need to click the tabs within each section to change their status to reflect your progress:
- Red (NotStarted) means that you have not started working on the section yet.
- Amber (In Progress) means that you have started working on the section but need to come back and add more information later.
- Green (Complete) means that you have added evidence and that you consider the section to be complete.
- Grey (Not Applicable) means that this section is not applicable to you or your role.
You can only submit your Appraisal once all sections of the Portfolio are marked as Complete, In Progress, or Not Applicable.
4.3 Uploading evidence to your Portfolio
Remember to remove any patient identifiable information before you upload your document. Any such identifiable data should be redacted either electronically (e.g.,by editing a Word document to replace names with XXX or similar), or by using correction fluid or opaque marker on a hard copy document prior to scanning it.
First, write an entry in the Description field that explains the content of the evidence for given Portfolio section:
Next, click on the Attach eDocument button which will prompt this pop-up window:
The Attach eDoc window has two tabs: New eDocument (opened by default) on the left, and Existing eDocument on the right (this function will be covered here).
Click Browse and choose a file from your device. A second line will appear where you can rename the file to be uploaded (if you leave this blank, it will be filled with the original filename). Once the evidence file is chosen and renamed (optional), click Attach New eDocument.
You have the option to indicate if this evidence should be kept in your Portfolio for your next Appraisal. If so, please tick the Keep Evidence for Next Appraisal box. Alternatively, if the document has an expiry date of its own or if you wish to keep it for a number of Appraisals, you may select an Expiry Date from a drop-down calendar. If the evidence is only for this Appraisal, please leave the aforementioned box unchecked and the Enter Expiry line blank.
You may upload multiple documents to one piece of evidence by following the same process to attach the file. Once you have attached the file(s), and indicated if the evidence should be kept for your next Appraisal, press Create Evidence to save this entry to your Portfolio.
You will notice that the just uploaded and saved file is now listed in the Evidence part of a Portfolio section. The sentence in green explains in which section of the Appraisal form this particular evidence will be visible.
The newly uploaded evidence will appear in your Portfolio like this:
4.4 Using the same file multiple times
If one file is relevant to several sections of your Portfolio, you do not need to upload it from scratch every single time. When you click Attach eDocument, you can click on the Existing eDocument tab on the right in the pop-up window that appears. Here all your previously uploaded files will appear and you can select the file from the list:
Can I upload multiple documents at a time?
4.5 Comments/Reflection
Here you can leave additional comments regarding the section you have just filled in. For instance, if you have a reason why there is not yet any evidence in a particular section, you can leave a comment in this box and your appraiser will be able to see it:
4.6 Private Notes
Here you can leave notes that only you can see, not your appraiser. This might be useful if you want to write something to remind yourself of evidence you need to come back to:
What next?
Once all the sections of your Portfolio have been marked Complete, In Progress or Not Applicable, you should move on to your Appraisal. You can access it by clicking on the Appraisal tab/progress bar on the right or from your Dashboard.
5. The Appraisal
The Appraisal form is based on the GMC MAG form and it looks like this:
The first section of the Appraisal, Appraisal Info, contains basic information about your Appraisal such as your lead appraiser’s name and the current version of the form (this will either show 6.2 or 7.1, depending on your organisation’s requirements). It also shows the following dates concerning the Appraisal:
- Created: The date that you opened this Appraisal.
- Proposed meeting date: The date your Appraisal meeting is due to take place. It can be changed in Section 3 (Personal Details).
- Submitted: The date your Appraisal was submitted to your appraiser.
- Meeting date: The date which filled in automatically when your Appraisal is completed and shows the day you met with your appraiser.
- Completed: Likewise, this date is filled in automatically when your Appraisal is completed, showing the day the last party signed it off. In short, this is your official Appraisal completion date.
How do I add an additional/academic appraiser?
5.1 Finding your way around the Appraisal
Depending on your organisation, your Appraisal form is made up of 17, 21 or 22 sections – you can move between them by clicking on the section headings on the left-hand side of the page. To prepare for your Appraisal, you are required to fill in all sections down as far as the Submit to Appraiser button.
Evidence in the Portfolio will be automatically linked to the relevant sections of your Appraisal. If you have already completed your Portfolio, you will find that a lot of your work here is already done. Therefore, you should not need to add much more evidence to the Appraisal form itself.
Once you have completed a section, click the green Mark as Complete button. This will change the icon from a red exclamation point icon to a green tick.
5.2 Submitting your Appraisal
Once you have completed the Portfolio by marking each its section as Complete / In Progress / Not Applicable, and upon completing all sections in the Appraisal form, you will be able to click on the Submit to Appraiser button in the latter.
5.3 How do I know if my Appraisal has been submitted?
The circle in the top-right corner of the Appraisal page indicates its status:
- DRAFT: Only you can see your Appraisal form and Portfolio.
- SUBMITTED: Your appraiser can now access and review it.
- COMPLETE: All sections have been signed off by you and your appraiser.
Can I add evidence after my Appraisal has been submitted?
How do I change my Appraisal meeting date?
6. Completing the Appraisal
I need my Appraisal to be completed
Your appraiser will receive a notification that you have submitted your Appraisal, allowing them to have a look through it prior to your meeting. When you meet with your appraiser, you can discuss the Appraisal and devise a Personal Development Plan (PDP). After the meeting, you and your appraiser will need to work through the final sign off sections, marking them complete as you go. Once the final section has been completed, the Appraisal will automatically lock down and its status will change from Submitted to Complete. A read-only version will be sent to the Responsible Officer (RO), effectively finishing the Appraisal process.
6.1 Downloading a copy of your completed Appraisal
You can download a copy of your completed Appraisal or Portfolio by clicking on the PDF button in the top-right corner:
7. Starting your next Appraisal
If you wish, you can open a new Appraisal right away after completing your last one. You will find that your Portfolio will reopen with any evidence that was indicated to be kept for the next Appraisal. You can remove evidence and add new evidence as required to update it for your next Appraisal. This will not affect any evidence on completed Appraisals which can be found under Appraisal on your Dashboard.
8. SARD Customer Support
If you require some additional help, we have online support available every weekday between 9am and 5pm via our online chat system. Just click on the green button in the bottom-right corner of your screen to open a Support Team chat window:
Clicking the Help tab on the right will direct you to a catalogue of Helpdesk articles which can be also found here. These should prove useful, especially if you need assistance outside of business hours.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments via the live chat system or email at support@sardjv.co.uk.
Updated on: 07/07/2025
Thank you!