Our Expert Resource Pool

Susi Caesar, Associate Director
After qualifying in 1990, Susi developed a portfolio career as a part-time partner in Cheshire, GP Tutor for Mersey, and PEC Member and Appraisal Lead for Central Cheshire, before becoming a sessional doctor and moving to Dorset in 2006. She is now a retained doctor in Weymouth and the Wessex Deanery Appraisal and Revalidation Service Lead.

Susi is a very experienced appraiser, trainer of appraisers (including dental and secondary care appraisers) and designer of appraisal training and appraisal systems. She was involved in the leadership of the first seven National Association of Primary Care Educators (NAPCE) annual appraisal conferences (from 2004-2010) and was their first appraisal lead. She co-authored “The Appraiser’s Handbook” (Radcliffe 2006). Last year she was involved in two of the RST pathfinder pilots and as an RST Associate.

She believes that the best way to improve patient care across the UK is to reach every single doctor with an appraisal that they value because it promotes their personal and professional development needs, while enabling them to demonstrate that they are up to date and fit to practise. Well trained and supported appraisers are key to facilitating such high quality medical appraisals.

Andy Godden, Associate Director
Andy studied medicine in Nottingham, qualifying in 1988. He then moved to Sheffield to train as GP, joining Firth Park Surgery as a partner in 1993. He has developed an interest in education, becoming a GP Trainer in 1997 and subsequently a Deanery CPD Tutor in 2003, with a lead role in appraisal QA. In 2007 he was also appointed as a CPD Tutor for NHS Sheffield, to provide appraiser education and support and to help the development of revalidation ready appraisal processes. Andy has an interest in practice management and has undertaken an 'executive partner' role for several years.

Andy has developed an interest in appraisal since its inception. He continues to work as an appraiser, finding it one of the most fulfilling areas of his work. He has been involved in appraiser training and support, both locally and more widely.

Over the past few years Andy has chaired the Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Appraisal Development Group, which brings together all 14 PCT appraisal teams in the SHA area with the aim of sharing ideas and standardising approaches. More recently he has become involved in the training and supporting of the emerging responsible officer networks across the region.

Debra King, Associate Director
Debra qualified at Leeds University Medical School in 1983. After junior doctor posts in Yorkshire she undertook Senior Registrar training in Geriatric and General Medicine in Mersey Region. She was awarded a British Heart Foundation Grant to undertake research in cardiac cachexia whilst a Senior Registrar.

In 1994 Debra was appointed Consultant Physician in Elderly Care at Wirral University Teaching Hospital where she is also the Heart Failure Lead Consultant. Clinical Director and Executive Director on the Trust Board (1999-2006) she is currently Associate Medical Director for Appraisal and Revalidation.

She has helped develop and deliver national training on appraisal for consultants with the Royal College of Physicians over the last ten years. She has with her team implemented an appraisal system which is quality assured. Appraisers are adequately trained and supported to help consultants develop their skills and careers. She was the pilot RO in the recently completed Mersey pathfinder pilot and was also a deputy RO for another pilot site. She helped train 45 ROs in the West Midlands in the pathfinder pilot. She is a member of the expert revalidation group in the NW SHA and is delivering the national RO training in the SHA.

Jenny Simpson, Associate Director
Jenny graduated from Manchester Medical School in 1976, pursuing a career in paediatrics in Manchester and subsequently in Sheffield. As part of her training Jenny gained an MBA with Distinction followed by a Doctorate in Business Administration. She then went on to identify a core group of doctors enthusiastic and committed to the idea of a serious approach to management and leadership education for doctors, whilst still working clinically in Sheffield. This core group formed the beginning of the British Association of Medical Managers (BAMM).

In February 2000 Jenny became a member of the Government’s Modernisation Board, as one of a small group of clinicians working with the PM and the then Secretary of State, Alan Milburn. Jenny was one of the original signatories to the NHS plan in July of that year. Since then she has advised successive Governments in both the UK and overseas on clinical leadership strategy. In 2007 Jenny was requested by Ministers to lead ‘Tackling Concerns Locally’ for Department of Health, implementing the White Paper: “Trust, Assurance and Safety”.

Jenny contributed to the drafting of the Regulation for Medical Revalidation and Responsible Officers and was commissioned to write the DH Guidance for responsible officers, the competency framework for responsible officers and the training plan. Jenny is currently the Chairman of the European Alliance of Medical Managers, (EAMM) and Strategic Medical Advisor to the board of Lloyds Pharmacy.

Lucy Warner, Associate Director
Lucy has over 20 years NHS experience ranging across many aspects of primary care, working with practices, local and national teams and including a stint in Gibraltar. Alongside her work with the Revalidation Support team, she also works as independent advisor on quality to the Department of Health and was a member of the Chief Medical Officer's working party on Medical Revalidation.

Maurice Conlon, Associate Director
Email: maurice.conlon@rst.nhs.uk

Maurice has been a GP in Birmingham since 1993. He joined the NHS Clinical Governance Support Team (CGST) in 2001, and became the Appraisal Lead when he ran the CGST Training the Appraisers Programme, publishing his seminal paper 'Appraisal: the catalyst of personal development in the BMJ' in 2003. In the same year he set up the appraisal support website: www.appraisalsupport.nhs.uk. As well as publications in the academic press, the CGST appraisal stream published influential papers on the website. These include 'Defining the Evidence for Revalidation for GPs', 'Assuring the Quality of Medical Appraisal', and 'Assuring the Quality of Training for Medical Appraisers'.

In February 2007, CGST and the National Association of Primary Care Educators held a joint conference on appraisal at which delegates approved 'The Leicester Statement on Essential Evidence for Appraisal'. In 2006, Maurice became a founding member of the Career Grade Doctors’ Appraisal Forum (CGDAF), which produced a series of five papers on appraisal, subsequently cited by the Royal College of Physicians.