Minister without portfolio?
- Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield S10 2JF, UK; mike.nelson@sth.nhs.uk
A view of appraisal
To minister: to attend to the needs (of)
Portfolio: a flat case, esp. of leather, used for carrying maps, drawings etc.
(Collins English Dictionary)
“Good morning. Please sit down. Thank you for coming for your appraisal. Can I see what evidence of your good medical practice you have brought with you?”
By 31 March 2002 all consultant ophthalmologists practising in the United Kingdom should have been appraised. As appraisal has been an essential part of training for senior house officers and specialist registrars for several years, all ophthalmology doctors will be involved in the activity. The actual process for appraisal will vary from trust to trust but the Department of Health has produced instructions regarding the nature of the documentation that the appraisal meeting must produce.1 The basis for any appraisal discussion will be the evidence of good medical practice2 that each consultant brings. Such evidence will be collected into some form of carrying case, not necessarily flat, or indeed made of leather, but none the less it could be called a portfolio.
So how is your portfolio coming along? Or do you minister without a portfolio?
While there may be a wide range of responses from ophthalmologists to the need to produce a portfolio, such responses could fall into one of two broad categories. …
