Recognition
Make existing responsibilities and contributions visible, with a clear description of their scope and impact.
Practical career development
SAS recognition & progression toolkit
Describe the work you do. Connect it to evidence. Identify what you need next, and prepare a clear discussion with the people who can make decisions.
Build your discussion brief ↓Professional reference · practical starting point
Professional evidence: connect examples to purpose
Explain what each example demonstrates, how it can be verified and what remains uncertain. Build on your existing evidence rather than collecting documents without a purpose.
Who this is for: Doctors preparing evidence for career development or recognition. Appraisal, a job application and the Portfolio Pathway have different purposes and requirements.
Keep these distinctions clear
- An activity record shows what happened; it may need feedback, outcomes or corroboration to demonstrate its significance.
- Course completion can support learning, but does not by itself establish workplace competence.
- Reflection should be your own account of learning. Christine must not invent achievements, patient details or experience.
Prepare your next step
- Choose the purpose and applicable criteria. Record an anonymised example of your contribution and the responsibility you held.
- Identify how the example could be verified, its outcome or learning, its limitations and any further evidence needed.
- Use the existing toolkit to map examples and plan actions. Keep original evidence in your approved professional systems.
Open a guided journey with local working notes. Choose which fields to copy into an editable question; nothing is submitted until you send it. Your normal allowance applies.
Reading, original sources and review information
Continue with the existing resources
- Build a coherent evidence portfolio →
- Appraisal and revalidation resources →
- Explore free learning on ClinicalEdu →
For a learning need, explore ClinicalEdu courses and Chris. Use this site to organise the professional application of your learning.
Check the original guidance
- RCP: Writing SAS doctor job descriptions ↗
Professional guidance; apply the relevant national contract · View source scope and check status
Independent editorial synthesis and practical suggestions, updated 26 October 2026. This is an additional web guide, not an alteration to a published handbook or an individual employment assessment. Source checks have their own dates and scope. Report a correction.
Start with the outcome you need
Job planning
Prepare a discussion about agreed duties, time, resources and support. Use the linked contracts guide for the governing arrangements.
Career progression
Organise evidence against the relevant role and national or local process. A well-prepared portfolio supports a discussion; it does not guarantee appointment or regrading.
Three separate questions
What work do I do? What contractual role or development opportunity am I seeking? Am I seeking specialist registration? Keep these questions separate: a job title, a scope of practice and an entry on the Specialist Register are different things.
A worked example
Illustrative only: a doctor who coordinates ward teaching might record the teaching responsibility, identify a timetable and anonymised feedback as evidence, note preparation time as a gap, and ask for a job-plan discussion. The next action could be for the clinical manager and doctor to review the workload by an agreed date. Actual evidence and applicable arrangements must be checked.
Your working notes stay on this page.
Entries are not submitted or automatically saved. Save an editable plan to your own device to continue later, or download your brief before leaving. Files opened here are read locally in your browser. Use anonymised evidence references, not patient details or confidential records.
What do you want to achieve?
All doctors, including consultants, work within a scope of practice. Autonomy depends on capability, the work undertaken and appropriate support; employment grade and GMC registration are separate questions. Existing autonomous practice may need recognition and documentation rather than a new development stage.
Read alongside your plan
Understand the capabilities (new tab) · Job planning (new tab) · Build a portfolio (new tab)
Build your evidence map
These are organising prompts, not an official capability framework. Open each area as needed and map your material to the actual criteria recorded above. Mark irrelevant areas as “Not applicable” and explain why.
0 of 6 areas have both a contribution and an evidence reference. This is a note-completion count, not a readiness score.
Clinical responsibility and judgement
What decisions do you make, within what agreed scope, and when do you seek help?
Example: anonymised service activity summary, agreed scope of practice or supervisor feedback.Education and supervision
Who do you teach or supervise, how often, and what feedback or outcomes show the contribution?
Example: teaching timetable, learner feedback or an educational role description.Leadership and governance
What do you lead, what authority do you hold and who is accountable for the decisions?
Example: role terms of reference, governance minutes or an agreed improvement action.Quality improvement and service development
What changed because of your work, and what evidence supports the change?
Example: project summary with baseline, intervention, results and limitations.Teamwork and professional contribution
How do you coordinate care, support colleagues and contribute across professional boundaries?
Example: anonymised multisource feedback or a pathway contribution.Development and sustainability
What learning, protected time, resources or support would enable the next step?
Example: PDP objective, completed learning or a documented request for support.Prepare the request and next steps
Before the meeting, these are proposed actions. Update them afterwards to reflect what was agreed, including who will respond and by when.
Prepare a professional conversation with Christine (new tab) →
Your notes are not transferred. Share only an anonymised summary if you choose to ask her; normal chat limits apply.
Your discussion brief
Review the wording before sharing. Blank fields are labelled “To complete”; the tool does not infer achievements or make a case on your behalf.
Discussion brief
SAS RECOGNITION & PROGRESSION — DISCUSSION BRIEF Preparation aid; not an eligibility assessment or official application. Nation: [To complete] Purpose: [To complete] Current role: [To complete] Scope and responsibilities: [To complete] Applicable criteria / policy / version: [To complete] Decision or support requested: [To complete] Meeting / decision-maker: [To complete] Recognition of existing work: [To complete] New development requested: [To complete] Support, time and review arrangements: [To complete] EVIDENCE MAP Clinical responsibility and judgement Contribution: [To complete] Applicable capability / criterion: [To complete] Evidence reference: [To complete] Status: Not reviewed Gap / support needed: [To complete] Education and supervision Contribution: [To complete] Applicable capability / criterion: [To complete] Evidence reference: [To complete] Status: Not reviewed Gap / support needed: [To complete] Leadership and governance Contribution: [To complete] Applicable capability / criterion: [To complete] Evidence reference: [To complete] Status: Not reviewed Gap / support needed: [To complete] Quality improvement and service development Contribution: [To complete] Applicable capability / criterion: [To complete] Evidence reference: [To complete] Status: Not reviewed Gap / support needed: [To complete] Teamwork and professional contribution Contribution: [To complete] Applicable capability / criterion: [To complete] Evidence reference: [To complete] Status: Not reviewed Gap / support needed: [To complete] Development and sustainability Contribution: [To complete] Applicable capability / criterion: [To complete] Evidence reference: [To complete] Status: Not reviewed Gap / support needed: [To complete] AGREED OR PROPOSED ACTIONS 1. [To complete] Owner: [To complete] Target date: [To complete] MEETING FOLLOW-UP [To complete] Record the decision, reasons, outstanding evidence, review date and who will provide the written response. Distinguish proposed actions from agreed actions. Prepared using SAS Doctors Review: https://sasdoctors.com/sas-recognition-progression Keep this document securely. Do not include patient identifiers or confidential colleague information.
Use the right guidance alongside your evidence
Career progression handbook
Connect the role, service need and capability evidence.
Contracts & job planning
Identify which terms and local arrangements govern your work.
Specialist registration
Explore the separate registration pathway and evidence requirements.
Appraisal & development
Connect reflection and agreed development objectives.
Free ClinicalEdu learning
Choose learning that addresses an identified development need.
Your UK nation
Start with the arrangements applying where you work.
Primary-source starting points
- NHS Employers: Specialist-grade resources and readiness checklist ↗
- NHS Employers: Specialist readiness checklist (PDF) ↗
- NHS Wales: current employment policy index, including regrading ↗
- NIMDTA: Specialist-grade development support ↗
Source links checked 18 October 2026. The six organising areas are original editorial prompts, not an official assessment framework. Confirm the current criteria, jurisdiction and local process before using this brief for a formal application. No eligibility score, accreditation or automatic entitlement is implied.